The UK government is considering new rules to ban any anti-vaccine posts from sites like Facebook and Twitter, after a surge across social media in content promoting false information.
Health Secretary Matt Hancock said internet firms have a “duty of care” to their users and legislation may be needed to enforce this.
Disinformation campaigns from the controversial anti-vax movement have plagued social media firms in recent years, with Facebook among those blamed for helping fuel the misguided belief in scientifically disproven claims that vaccinations are harmful and can cause autism.
The issue has become so severe that several vaccine-preventable diseases like measles have seen outbreaks in areas where they were previously almost eliminated.
Facebook has already joined other social media firms like Pinterest in cracking down on anti-vaccine content on its platform.
