Anti-vaccination advocates are finding new ways to get around Facebook’s ban on false claims in ads

A recent Facebook ad campaign promoting a pamphlet about a whooping cough ‘vaccine controversy’ has drawn criticism for potentially violating the spirit, if not the exact letter, of Facebook’s policy against publishing vaccine misinformation in ads.

The ads come from Earthley, a wellness company that sells natural healthcare and beauty products.

Earthley also promotes some of its own products as treatments for whooping cough, including elderberry elixir, vitamin C powder, and different herbal mixtures.

A new ad campaign on Facebook has skirted the social media giant’s ban on vaccine misinformation by promoting a guide to the whooping cough that promises to explain the ‘controversy’ surrounding vaccination

Since December 9, the company has been running a series of ads on Facebook promoting ‘A Guide to Pertussis (Whooping Cough).’ 

The guide promises to help parents understand the symptoms and treatment options for the respiratory disease, which kills 160,000 people a year.

It also claims to address a controversy connected to the practice of vaccinating people for the whooping cough.

‘Is the vaccine the best option? And if not, what is?’ one of Earthely’s ads for its whooping cough guide, as reported by BuzzFeed.

Another ad says, ‘Click below for a FREE guide for Pertussis which will include: Vaccine Controversy.’

According to BuzzFeed, the guide makes the false claim that whooping cough vaccines contain levels of aluminum that could cause neurological damage.

Earthley responded to the report about their questionable advertising campaign with a post on Facebook that included a mischaracterization of a CDC report about whooping cough in its comments

Earthley responded to the report about their questionable advertising campaign with a post on Facebook that included a mischaracterization of a CDC report about whooping cough in its comments

When contacted about the ads, a Facebook representative said that the company’s ads didn’t violate its new policy for anti-vaccination propaganda, which it announced in March of 2019.

WHAT IS FACEBOOK’S PLAN TO CURB ANTI-VAX PROPAGANDA?

In a March 7 blog post, Facebook’s VP of Global Policy Management Monika Bickert outlined a series of steps the firm is now taking to cut down on vaccine misinformation.

This includes:

  • Reducing the ranking of groups and pages that spread vaccine misinformation
  • Rejecting ads including misinformation about vaccines
  • Removing related targeting options, such as ‘vaccine controversies’
  • Removing this content from recommended pages in Instagram Explore or hashtags  
  • Providing ‘authoritative information’ on the topic of vaccines  

‘Facebook does not have a policy that bans advertising on the basis that it expresses opposition to vaccines,’ a Facebook spokesperson told BuzzFeed.

‘Our policy is to ban ads containing vaccine misinformation.’

While information contained in the guide itself could potentially meet Facebook’s standards for vaccine misinformation, an ad that promotes the guide without specifying any of its claims does not.

According to Peter Hotez, an MD and professor of pediatrics at Baylor University, the whooping cough vaccine is ‘safe, it does not cause autism, does not cause all the other things that they talk about.’

‘It’s highly protective, and could save your child’s life.’

In a Facebook post reacting to BuzzFeed’s article, Earthley points to a report on whooping cough from the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, arguing that the vaccine is of questionable efficacy because four times as many vaccinated people get the disease as unvaccinated people. 

Earthley’s claim, however, does not accurately represent the CDC report’s findings.

Of the 3,862 reported cases of whooping cough in children between the ages of six months and six years, 62 percent involve patients with an unknown vaccination history, were not vaccinated, or had not completed the full vaccination course.

Only 38 percent, or 1,463 cases, came from children who had completed a full DTaP vaccination for whooping cough. 

‘Because protection from DTaP wanes over time, even children who are up to date with their pertussis vaccines may contract pertussis,’ the report explains.

‘Unvaccinated children are more likely to contract pertussis and have more severe disease than those who are fully vaccinated.’

Another CDC report addresses concerns over aluminum content in vaccines, which is no more than 0.85mg per dose. 

For comparison, the CDC says the average American adult ingests between 7mg and 9mg of aluminum every day through various food sources, including flour, baking powder, coloring agents, or anticaking agents.

A single aspirin tablet contains between 10 and 20mg of aluminum and a single antacid capsule can contain between 104mg and 208mg of aluminum. 

‘Aluminum is one of the most common metals found in nature and is present in air, food, and water,’ the CDC report says.

‘Scientific research has shown the amount of aluminum exposure in people who follow the recommended vaccine schedule is low and is not readily absorbed by the body’

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