Pakistan wants removal of anti-polio content on social media

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan has urged Facebook to block from their platforms operating from within Pakistan, all anti-polio content that constitutes harmful propaganda against vaccination in particular in the Pakistan Polio Eradication Programme in general.

“The harmful content on Facebook is not just jeopardising our polio eradication initiative but also putting the lives of our anti-polio vaccinators at risk,” an official correspondence signed the Prime Minister’s Focal Person on Polio Eradication by Babar Bin Atta states.

It is high time Pakistan took strict measures to regulate vaccine-related harmful content available on social media to address misconceptions about polio vaccine. Parental refusals due to propaganda on Facebook regarding the vaccine is emerging as the major obstacle in achieving complete eradication of the virus.

The correspondence further states that the Pakistan Polio Eradication Programme has compiled a sample report of some of the Facebook pages and provided them to the head of public policy of Facebook.

The content shared within this report is in violation of Facebooks policies as per its community standards, particularly its clause referring to integrity and authenticity.

The letter said that this content stands to incite harm and violence against polio workers, and may further deteriorate the programme’s coverage of vulnerable children and their subsequent immunity against poliovirus.