A database of more than 1,000 social media posts reported by the HSE to Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram for Covid-19 misinformation

The HSE has reported more than 1,000 posts on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram for misinformation about the Covid-19 pandemic and the vaccination programme.

The majority of the complaints – or 739 in total – related to posts on Twitter, many of which remain on the popular social media platform.

Another 291 reports were made about comments and posts on Facebook, while just three complaints related to posts or stories on Instagram.

The level of reporting by the HSE has fallen dramatically since earlier this year and was hit markedly by the cyberattack on the health services in mid-May.

In March, there were 439 reports made to Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram, about content on their platforms according to monthly logs.

However, by last month – the number of reports had fallen to just 70.

Low numbers were also recorded during May and June, when the HSE grappled with getting its computer systems back online, with 91 and 35 reports made respectively.

An analysis of the latest two months of reports made by the HSE reveals that many of the offending posts remain online still.

In the early days of August, of the 44 posts and comments that were flagged by the HSE, 30 of them remain online with one still available but marked “misleading”.

Of the 70 posts reported in July, there are 53 of the posts or comments still active.

In some cases, tweets and comments have been deleted, or accounts have been suspended but it is not possible to determine if that was directly because of the HSE reports.

The original database, as released by the HSE, is available below to download or view: