Facebook removes Pete Evans' profile over COVID-19 misinformation breaches

Facebook has removed Pete Evans' official page after the celebrity chef continued to share misinformation about the coronavirus with his followers.

The social media behemoth today said it removed Evans' profile for repeated breaches of its misinformation and harm policies.

"We don't allow anyone to share misinformation about COVID-19 that could lead to imminent physical harm or COVID-19 vaccines that have been debunked by public health experts," a Facebook company spokesperson said in a statement.

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"We have clear policies against this type of content and we've removed Chef Pete Evans' Facebook Page for repeated violations of these policies."

Facebook has previously removed posts from Evans' page for violating the company's policies.

Last month, Evans posted an illustration of a caterpillar and a butterfly talking over a drink to his social media followers.

In the image, the butterfly has a "black sun" symbol on its wings while the caterpillar wears a pro-Trump Make America Great Again red hat.

The black sun mark is a known Nazi symbol, which the Christchurch mass-shooter had emblazoned on his backpack.

Following a public backlash, the post has since been deleted.

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Facebook's decision to dump the chef from its network comes just days after Evans used his profile to urge his Sydney followers not to get a COVID-19 test during the Northern Beaches outbreak.

During a Facebook livestream on April 9, Evans, who lists himself online as an organic paleo chef, health coach, motivational speaker and author, claimed a $15,000 device sold on his website called a "biocharger" could be used in relation to what he called the "Wuhan Coronavirus".

A week later, The Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) fined him $25,200, issuing two infringement notices to Peter Evans Chef Pty Ltd for allegedly breaching the Therapeutic Goods Act on social media.

Facebook has 15,000 content reviewers working to check that content complies with its Community Standards.

The company started removing COVID-19 related misinformation that could contribute to imminent physical harm in January this year, when the virus was declared a global health emergency.

Between March and October, moderators took down some 12 million pieces of content from Facebook and Instagram.

On December 3, with the news of Pfizer's successful COVID-19 vaccine trial, the company also announced it would be removing "false claims" about COVID-19 vaccines.