An anti-vaxxer group is suing Facebook for putting fact-checking labels on anti-vaccine posts
- An anti-vaccination group is suing Facebook for applying fact-check labels to posts that contain misinformation or falsehoods about vaccines.
- Children's Health Defense — the anti-vaxxer group lead by Robert F. Kennedy Jr. — accuses Facebook of violating the First Amendment, a law that doesn't apply to private companies.
- Anti-vaxxers have relied on social media like Facebook to spread false information about vaccines based on junk science for years, but Facebook started cracking down on anti-vaccine misinformation last year.
Facebook is facing a new lawsuit from anti-vaccination activists who claim the company is unfairly censoring them by applying fact-check labels to posts containing false information about vaccines.
Children's Health Defense, led by prominent anti-vaxxer Robert F. Kennedy Jr., filed a lawsuit against Facebook in northern California Monday.
The complaint accuses Facebook of violating the First Amendment — a law that only applies to government entities and not private companies. However, the plaintiffs claim that because Facebook incorporated CDC guidance in its fact-check labels, the government has "privatize[d] the role of public censor to Facebook."
Anti-vaxxers have relied on social media like Facebook to spread false theories about vaccines based on junk science for years. Most anti-vaxx content on Facebook originates from a handful of fringe sources, according to an investigation by The Atlantic.
Facebook first started cracking down on misinformation posted by anti-vaxxers in 2019, blocking the content from being promoted through ads and downplaying it in search results. Facebook still allows anti-vaxx content to be posted, but now applies a fact-check warning label including context about vaccines from expert organizations.
Facebook did not immediately respond to a request for comment.