Facebook to take harsher action against anti-vaccine content

Facebook Inc. has been criticized for allowing its platform to amplify anti-vaccine views, fueling a public health crisis. Now the company is taking steps to reduce the visibility of the information in search and the news feed.

Facebook won’t allow anti-vaccine views to pop up in search or recommendations on the social network or Instagram, and will reject ads that contain misinformation about vaccines, the company said Thursday. Facebook is also removing the ads targeting a category for “vaccine controversies.”

Last month, U.S. Representative Adam Schiff, a Democrat from California, sent a letter to Facebook and Google, asking them to address the problem because their inaction may have contributed to recent outbreaks of measles in the country. Google’s YouTube turned off the ability for anti-vaccination videos to make money from their ads. Pinterest banned the content altogether.