Facebook will no longer veto theories that COVID-19 was created in a laboratory | Techno Doctor | Magazine

Speculations about a laboratory accident in China are returning to the debate in the United States.

Facebook will stop banning publication of theories claiming that COVID-19 was man-made as speculation about a laboratory accident in China returns to the debate in the United States.

“In light of current investigations into the origins of Covid-19 and in consultation with health experts, we will no longer remove from our platforms claims that Covid-19 was man-made or manufactured,” the group said, who also owns Instagram, on his website on Wednesday.

The social network, used by some 3.45 billion people on at least one of its four platforms (Facebook, Instagram, Messenger, WhatsApp) goes against its previous rules on disinformation in times of covid-19, updated last month of February.

At the time, they included the prohibition of theories that suggested the existence of a human hand behind the virus, as well as the alleged ineffectiveness of vaccines or that anticovid injections could be toxic or dangerous.

“We continue to work with experts to monitor the evolving nature of the pandemic and regularly update our policies as new facts and trends emerge,” Facebook said.

At the same time, the theory of a laboratory accident in Wuhan, China, has made a comeback in recent weeks in the American debate, having long been dismissed by most experts. And calls for further research are multiplying in the scientific community.

US President Joe Biden on Wednesday asked his intelligence agencies to “redouble their efforts” to explain the origin of the coronavirus and demanded a report within 90 days.

The president recalled that the work of US intelligence, which focuses on two hypotheses, animal origin or escape from a laboratory, did not allow to date to reach “a definitive conclusion.”

Following a four-week visit to Wuhan earlier this year, a joint study by the World Health Organization and Chinese experts deemed a laboratory accident in March “extremely unlikely.”

The United States and 13 allied countries later expressed “concern” over the report in a joint statement, demanding that China provide “full access” to its data.

The first cases of covid-19 were identified in late 2019 in Wuhan, before the virus spread across the world and killed nearly 3.5 million people. (I)

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