Facebook took down major anti-vaccination groups — but research shows they already did their damage

Facebook's ban on anti-vaccination groups may be too little, too late when it comes to encouraging vaccinations for COVID-19.

First banning anti-vaccination ads on its platform in October, Facebook took another step last week as it removed the biggest anti-vaccine groups spreading misinformation about the coronavirus. But researchers say the damage may have already been done, as those groups have already spread misinformation about the COVID-19 vaccine far and wide, and smaller groups have already spread enough anti-vaccine misinformation to replace them, NBC News reports.

Facebook has long been reluctant to crack down on misinformation on its site, only recently taking action against conspiracy theory groups promoting violence. And as biotech companies spent months trying to develop a COVID-19 vaccine, anti-vax groups were allowed to linger and sow distrust in the vaccines' funding and effectiveness.

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Vaccination proponents and misinformation researchers saw last week's takedowns as "mostly positive," but forthcoming research gives them reason for worry. A paper currently under review shows people in Facebook groups unrelated to vaccines, such as groups for parents, "are increasingly connecting with the anti-vaccination movement" as anti-vaccination groups spread their influence elsewhere, NBC News reports.

Neil Johnson, who studies online extremism and was part of the study, compared the rise to a "tumor growth," saying "what we're seeing play out with COVID is what was already in the system." This "insurgency" has "embedded with the mainstream civilian population," Johnson continued, spreading misinformation far and wide. Two polls from Pew Research and YouGov have found that distrust of the coronavirus vaccine is rampant, and has increased since the beginning of the pandemic, potentially spelling trouble when it comes to getting as many people as possible to get an eventual vaccine. Read more at NBC News.