Anti-vaccine groups avoid Facebook bans by using emojis
Enlarge (credit: Aurich Lawson)
Pizza slices, cupcakes, and carrots are just a few emojis that anti-vaccine activists use to speak in code and continue spreading COVID-19 misinformation on Facebook.
Bloomberg reported that Facebook moderators have failed to remove posts shared in anti-vaccine groups and on pages that would ordinarily be considered violating content, if not for the code-speak. One group that Bloomberg reviewed, called Died Suddenly," is a meeting ground for anti-vaccine activists supposedly mourning a loved one who died after they got vaccines-which they refer to as having eaten the cake."
Facebook owner Meta told Bloomberg that it's removed more than 27 million pieces of content for violating its COVID-19 misinformation policy, an ongoing process," but declined to tell Ars whether posts relying on emojis and code-speak were considered in violation of the policy.