The mother of a Newfoundland and Labrador child says she is relieved that Facebook has deactivated a page using images of her deceased daughter to promote an anti-vaccination campaign.
Holly Denine recently came across a Facebook page posting a photo of her daughter, Nevaeh Denine, with text that falsely claimed her death was vaccine-related.
Diagnosed with neuroblastoma at an early age, she was well known in Newfoundland and Labrador for opening a lemonade stand to raise money for children with cancer.
She died of her illness last summer, aged just nine, and her courage and selflessness are still remembered by local residents.
A Facebook spokesperson said Tuesday evening that the social network had deactivated the antivaccination page, apologizing for any distress it may have caused.
The social media giant claims that the page has been deactivated for violating the company’s misrepresentation standards.
Denine said her daughter had used social media in a positive way to raise thousands of dollars for sick children.
However, she had long feared that someone would exploit her daughter’s photo to raise funds.
“I hope this never happens again,” she wrote in an email on Tuesday.
“I just want Nevaeh to be associated with kindness and caring, not with that cruel garbage. And that’s what it is, garbage.”
Source : www.lapresse.com
PHOTO AAMIE GILLAM, ARCHIVES LA PRESSE CANADIENNE
