Nutrition, fitness and health problems are very common topics on Facebook. Many social network users display a healthy lifestyle and want to work towards their goals through their profiles. This trend is being exploited by various companies that advertise miracle cures for weight loss, baldness and muscle gain, but unfortunately, many products are fraudulent and have no effect on health. Facebook wants its users to get accurate health information on their platform, and have therefore decided to modify the algorithm to minimize misleading content regarding health.
Facebook says
that people do not like posts that contain sensationalism or spam, and with
health-related content, this is often the case. That’s why Facebook has made
two updates:
1. Posts with
sensational or exaggerated health claims – Here Facebook considers whether the post is deceiving
or has exaggerated content.
2. Posts that
try to sell products or services based on health claims – In this case, Facebook evaluates
whether the post promotes medication or pills that, for example, miraculously
cause weight loss.
When Facebook recognizes phrases in posts or advertisements that include a sensational health claim promise, those posts will appear farther down in the News Feed, and if these posts are sponsored, Facebook will reduce the reach of their advertising. If the user remedies the issue and stops sharing misleading content, their posts will be displayed by Facebook without restriction.
Facebook does
not want businesses and advertisers to be afraid to publish health-related
content because of this change. If you respect all community policies and your
content is true and not misleading, your posts will not be affected.
Facebook made a similar update to
the algorithm concerning clickbait in May, where it successfully reduced
the poor quality of this type of content and changed the algorithm for sorting
videos.
