Facebook removes ‘pseudoscience’ from list of allowable keywords that advertisers use to target people
- Facebook has removed ‘pseudoscience’ from its list of allowable keywords
- The decision comes after a report from The Markup
- An ad portal for ‘pseudoscience’ had more than 78 million people
Facebook has removed the word ‘pseudoscience’ from its list of allowable keywords for advertisers.
According to a report from The Markup, up until recently, Facebook has been allowing advertisers to profit off of ads that targeted the word ‘pseudoscience.’
The Markup also reports that an ‘ad portal’ for the keyword which allows advertisers to target their products contained more than 78 million people.
Facebook has removed the key words ‘pseudoscience’ from its list of allowable phrases according to a report from The Markup (Stock photo)
After The Markup was able to place an ad targeting people with the keyword which was approved by Facebook, the company said it had eliminated the category completely.
In a statement to The Verge following the decision, Facebook said:
‘We’ve removed this targeting option to prevent potential abuse in ads.’
Facebook reportedly kept a portal for ‘pseudoscience’ active despite taking down other adjacent categories like ‘chemtrails’ and other conspiracies according to The Markup.
The news that advertisers were allowed to target based on the category comes with particularly sensitive timing as Facebook attempts to battle misinformation on its platform relating to COVID-19.
As of April 16, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg said that the platform had placed warning labels on more than 40 million posts related to COVID-19.
Facebook recently opened up its Messenger app to health authorities to help disseminate important information on novel coronavirus COVID-19 (stock)
In addition to removing content, Facebook has also begun notifying users that may have come in contact with misinformation.
Efforts to curb misinformation haven’t gone without hiccups however.
Facebook recently admitting that it made an ‘error’ in blocking content on how to make hand-sewn masks and threatening to ban the users who post it, including groups in Pennsylvania, Illinois and California.
Twitter has also taken significant stances against misinformation being spread by presidents in Brazil and Venezuela promoting an unproven treatment for COVID-19.