As part of its continuing efforts to eradicate misinformation, fake news and conspiracy theories from its platform, Facebook will start warning users if they liked, reacted or commented on COVID-19 misinformation that have since been removed because they posed an ‘imminent physical harm’. Instead, these users will start seeing messages that will connect them to COVID-19 myths debunked by the World Health Organization (WHO), said the company.
“We want to connect people who may have interacted with harmful misinformation about the virus with the truth from authoritative sources in case they see or hear these claims again off of Facebook”, Facebook said in an official blog post. The feature will roll out in the coming weeks.
To make it easier for people to find accurate information about COVID-19, Facebook recently added a new section called ‘Get the Facts’ to its coronavirus Information Center. It includes fact-checked articles from the company’s fact-checking partners that debunk misinformation about the novel coronavirus. The fact-check articles are selected by the company’s in-house news curation team and are updated every week.
Like its fellow tech giants from Silicon Valley, Facebook has been doing its bit to put a leash on the torrent of rumors and misinformation about the novel coronavirus that has already infected millions of people and killed around 150,000 globally. The company is now not only putting vetted information about COVID-19 at the top of users’ News Feed, but has also expanded its ‘Community Help’ feature to make it easier for people stuck in their homes during the lockdown period to find help in their communities.
