Facebook fails to label 80% of posts promoting bioweapons conspiracy theory

As social media companies promise to crack down on Russian disinformation about the war in Ukraine, studies show they continue to fall short, allowing disproven narratives to reach millions.

Facebook failed to label 80% of articles on its platform promoting a fast-spreading conspiracy theory that the US is funding the use of bioweapons in Ukraine, according to a study released Friday by the Center for Countering Digital Hate (CCDH).

The bioweapons theory began to spread in the early days of the war on Ukraine, among fringe QAnon accounts, ultimately making its way to larger platforms such as Fox News. The White House has condemned the myth, saying it may have been manufactured by Moscow to justify a possible use of chemical weapons against Ukraine.

But it continues to spread across social media, including Facebook.

CCDH researchers used the social analytics tool NewsWhip to identify more than 120 articles from external sites that had false or misleading claims about bioweapons labs or misrepresented statements made by US officials and found articles in the sample had received more than 150,000 likes, comments and shares on Facebook.

Previous studies published by CCDH found Facebook struggled to enforce its own rules surrounding the labeling of state-sponsored news sources. And it is not alone: another study from Media Matters for America found YouTube had not only failed to remove thousands of videos about the biolabs theory, but had also profited off them through monetized channels.

While some experts have conceded Facebook is now stepping up to more thoroughly crack down on state propaganda, others say disinformation will continue to spread on social media as long as it is baked into the views-driven business model.