Facebook bug hides coronavirus content

The social media company has been trying to eliminate misinformation online.
The social media company has been trying to eliminate misinformation online. Photo credit: Getty

Facebook says a bug in its anti-spam system has led to some content about COVID-19 coronavirus being blocked.

The social media company has been working with other Internet companies including Reddit, LinkedIn, Google and Youtube in committing to fight coronavirus-related fake news.

A joint statement posted to the Google Public Policy Twitter account says: "We're helping millions of people stay connected while also jointly combating fraud and misinformation about to virus, elevating authoritative content on our platforms, and sharing critical updates in coordination with government healthcare agencies around the world".

But now it seems they have been overly cautious, blocking posts from credible news organisations.

Some people have taken to social media to express their frustration with the issue and how it is stopping some communities from receiving important information during the pandemic.

One Facebook user commented: "Crikey! Facebook is certainly clamping down on news. Now Stuff is unsafe. Anyone know what's going on? I've had three posts removed as "against community standards" when they were just reposting Stuff stories".

Another person says the issue "Shows how vulnerable the Information Age is to the whims and mores of Facebook".

Vice president of integrity for Facebook Guy Rosen posted to Twitter on Wednesday saying the bug has now been fixed.

"We’ve restored all the posts that were incorrectly removed, which included posts on all topics - not just those related to COVID-19," he says.

"This was an issue with an automated system that removes links to abusive websites, but incorrectly removed a lot of other posts too."

CEO Mark Zuckerberg told USA Today his company is just trying to do their best.

"I do think there will be some false positives, (and we'll) take down some content that was not supposed to be taken down," he said.

"We try very hard not to do that of course, but I don't think you should expect to see anything of the level of the bug yesterday.

"Hopefully we won't have that issue again anytime soon."