Facebook announced Tuesday that it will not run ads that discourage people from receiving a coronavirus vaccine.
In a statement on its website, the tech giant said that the “COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted the importance of preventive health behaviors … Today we’re announcing new steps as part of our continued work to help support vaccine efforts.” One of those steps includes “rejecting ads globally that discourage people from getting a vaccine.”
Distrust of a COVID-19 vaccine has been growing for months now. A Gallup poll released Monday found that only 50% of respondents said they would be vaccinated, down from 61% in August and 66% in July. In recent years, a vocal movement, sometimes referred to as “anti-vaxxers,” has opposed childhood vaccinations.
This is just the most recent action Facebook has taken to restrict content on its site. On Monday, the company stated that it would no longer permit content that denies the Holocaust. A week ago, Facebook announced that it would prohibit all political ads for an undetermined length of time after the polls close on Nov. 3.
