Facebook is changing how posts with misleading health claims are shared

Posts with dubious health claims flourish on Facebook and other social media sites. For instance, Ethan Lindenberger, the 18-year-old who gained notoriety as he caught up on vaccinations against his parents’ wishes, said his mother got much of her anti-vaccination beliefs after reading Facebook posts. Now, the social media giant is taking steps to combat such misinformation. In a new blog post, one of Facebook’s product managers said the company had made updates to its algorithms to reduce posts with sensational or exaggerated claims as well as posts that aim to sell a product based on a health-related claim, such as weight loss. The company will be looking for commonly used phrases to classify posts with questionable health claims, and encouraged people to no longer include exaggerated or misleading claims in posts.