Facebook Fixes Bug Marking Genuine Coronavirus Articles As Spam

The problem seems to have been resolved and the company is now making sure it’s not repeated.

Just a few days ago, top tech giants Facebook, Google, LinkedIn, Microsoft, Reddit, Twitter, and YouTube had announced that they will help fight the fake news and misinformation related to COVID-19 on their platforms.

Turns out there was a bug on Facebook that was linking many legitimate articles and news on the coronavirus as spam, as per many Twitter users.

It seems there was a bug in Facebook’s anti-spam system which Facebook’s vice president of integrity, Guy Rosen, has said is being resolved.

We're on this - this is a bug in an anti-spam system, unrelated to any changes in our content moderator workforce. We're in the process of fixing and bringing all these posts back. More soon.

— Guy Rosen (@guyro) March 17, 2020

Here are some of the examples of affected Facebook posts:

Something is going on on Facebook. I’ve seen four separate people in the past couple hours saying their posts about coronavirus were marked as “spam”. And one of them is an epidemiologist.

Then my link to the Canadian gov’s website about EI was removed too. #COVID19 pic.twitter.com/tFAUqLzHus

— Aylan (AY like Day - LAN like LandBack) Couchie (@AylanX) March 17, 2020

Incredible. @Facebook said my post of this Dallas Morning News article highlighting that two people in their 20s and 30s are in critical care in Dallas County and that young people aren’t invincible went against their guidelines and was removed.https://t.co/HqoIdzzcSi

— Kathryn Watson (@kathrynw5) March 17, 2020

.@Facebook your review system is broken AF -- This is the 3rd in two weeks "GOES AGAINST OUR COMMUNITY STANDARDS" for a share from a known publication.

Like this one? An @Upworthy post about #GenX w the Breakfast Club movie as the photo? WT? And the others are about the same. pic.twitter.com/CL1jRSz5uO

— Kristine Schachinger (@schachin) March 17, 2020

Rosen also said that the affected posts have been restored and explained that the issue was with an automated moderation tool and was not related to any changes to its moderator workforce.

Facebook and Instagram have already announced to ban ads and commerce listings selling medical face masks on their platforms to stop people from exploiting the coronavirus emergency.

There have also been instances where cybercriminals have been luring verified Facebook and Instagram users in the disguise of spreading awareness about novel coronavirus (COVID-19), offering them $1,500 per week via a global email fraud.

The emails came from "health organisations', offering money to advertise their awareness content on coronavirus on their verified handles on social media platforms like Facebook.

-with inputs from IANS