Facebook, Google, TikTok and Twitter reveal huge medical misinformation spike in Australia

Social networks including Facebook, YouTube, TikTok and Twitter saw Covid-19 lies skyrocket in Australia and worldwide.

Hundreds of thousands of posts containing dangerous misinformation about Covid-19 and elections were removed from major social networks over the past year, according to a new Australian report, including soaring cases of dangerous content on TikTok, Twitter, and even LinkedIn.

And thousands of the misleading posts came from Australia, according to tech giants Google and Meta, which together removed 185,000 local examples of health misinformation during 2021.

The findings from eight tech giants were published as part of the Australian Code of Practice on Disinformation and Misinformation, enacted last year in response to the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission’s Digital Platforms Inquiry.

But social media experts say misleading posts removed by the tech firms were only the tip of the misinformation iceberg, and regulations should be imposed to standardise reports.

Meta revealed it had removed thousands of health misinformation posts from Instagram and Facebook during 2021. Picture: AFP

The eight companies to release reports into misinformation range from Google, Meta, Apple and Twitter, to TikTok, Microsoft, Adobe and Redbubble.

DIGI Managing Director Sunita Bose said the reports delivered a vital insight into how tech firms were tackling misleading content, and said the group “looks forward to working with the incoming Government and others” to improve their efforts.

“The 2021 transparency reports provide new data on misinformation in Australia and the many interventions to remove and flag fake claims and accounts, elevate reputable content and partner with researchers,” she said.

In it report, tech giant Meta revealed it had removed more than 180,000 Facebook and Instagram posts for “harmful health misinformation” from Australian accounts, and more than 11 million posts worldwide during 2021.

The company also added warnings to more than 190 million Facebook posts found by third-party fact-checkers to be “false, partly false, altered or missing content” between March 2020 and June 2021, though it did not remove them.

Internet giant Google also revealed it had removed more than 90,000 Australian videos for violating its community guidelines in 2021, and more than 25 million worldwide.

Of those videos, more than 5000 uploaded from Australian internet addresses were deleted for featuring “content related to dangerous or misleading Covid-19 information”.

Medical misinformation identified on TikTok from Australian users increased during 2021. Picture: AFP

A huge number of advertisements also contained Covid-19 misinformation and “false claims that could undermine trust and participation in elections,” the company said, and it deleted ads from more than 500,000 pages attempting to publish misinformation.

“Medical misinformation” also soared on TikTok during 2021, with the company revealing just 24 misleading health videos from Australia were removed in January 2021, rising to a peak of 4476 in September.

The social network removed a total of 12,582 medical misinformation videos from Australia during the year.

Other reports showed Twitter purged 83,999 tweets that violated its Covid-19 information policy between January 2020 and December 2021, and suspended 8126 accounts, while LinkedIn blocked 120,000 fake Australian accounts and removed about 2000 posts with misinformation from Australian sources.

Social media strategist Meg Coffey said she was “blown away” by the number of misleading health posts revealed by the tech firms but warned they were “definitely not the whole picture”.

“These are only the posts that their systems detected or reports from users,” she said.

“It does show there’s a problem and if they weren’t to release it you would have these fringe groups saying it’s not as bad as it seems to be.”

Swinburne University social media senior lecturer Dr Belinda Barnet said the findings indicated platforms were “more proactive over the last 18 months” but she said the current misinformation code was voluntary and needed to strengthened.

“The industry can decide what they want to say, what they want to include or not include,” she said.

“The code needs to be mandatory.”

Originally published as Facebook, Google, TikTok and Twitter reveal huge medical misinformation spike in Australia