Facebook Is Taking Down Posts That Cause Imminent Harm — But Not Posts That Cause Inevitable Harm

In January 2020, Facebook executives began paying attention to a new coronavirus spreading across the globe. The virus was deadly and highly contagious, and when the World Health Organization shared guidance about it, the company’s leadership dropped their typically hands-off approach to misinformation.

“We decided we would remove content that directly contradicted [the WHO] and could contribute to risk of imminent physical harm,” Monika Bickert, Facebook’s head of global policy management, told BuzzFeed News.

Say “social distancing doesn’t work” or “wearing a mask can make you sick” on Facebook, and...