Facebook, Twitter, Google, YouTube, LinkedIn, Microsoft and Reddit have shared a joint statement on their efforts to combat misleading information about Corona Virus while keeping people connected.
This comes to reassure customers and warn of the potential of ‘fake news’.
The statement mentioned how they are inviting other companies to join in efforts to keep communities healthy and safe.
Below is the statement as was posted on Facebook Newsroom:
Last week the US Chief Technology Officer had a meeting with representatives of major tech companies concerning how to fight disinformation and coordinate various efforts related to COVID-19. The Washington Post and Politico reported that the White House asked Google, Facebook, Amazon, Microsoft, Apple, IBM, Cisco and Twitter for help.
The World Health Organisation’s director-general said that disinformation is just as dangerous as COVID-19 is and that it isn’t just a pandemic on our hands it is also an infodemic.
For their own part, LinkedIn posted a blog post on March 13th giving information about how to find trustworthy new sources and about working from home. They also provided useful links.
Twitter updated their strategy for monitoring tweets during the outbreak. This update includes a review of Twitter rules in the context of COVID-19.
Reddit disclosed that their efforts to combat fake news are to ‘quarantine’ communities on Reddit that have fake or misinformation in them. As well as this such communities will be hidden from search results and explicit opt-ins will be required to read the content and these after warnings are given.
Facebook’s efforts to fight disinformation about COVID-19 include information cards on Instagram and Facebook that redirect to sources like World Health Organisation and local health authorities.
Google’s CEO Sundar Pichai posted 2 blogposts on this topic including one two days ago on March 15th that had information about a screening site in California called Verily.
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