The coronavirus epidemic is also causing the spread of misinformation and fraud across the internet regarding fake kits, vaccines, medicine, and much more.
For that reason, a group of the world’s biggest social media platforms has come together to address the situation through a joint statement. This group of social media giants includes Facebook, Google, Linkedin, Microsoft, Reddit, Twitter, and YouTube, and they are also inviting more companies to join them.
The statement comes after multiple tech companies attended a conference last week with White House officials. The officials requested the companies to stop the spread of misinformation and fraud online amongst other things.
The joint statement from the companies states that they are planning to keep millions of people connected while also combating misinformation and fraud. They will only be promoting authoritative content across their platforms and will keep sharing timely and critical updates in coordination with the government and healthcare agencies across the globe.
Lastly, they are inviting more companies to join to help keep the community healthy and safe as a whole.
Most of these companies have already been fighting the spread of misinformation and fraud on their platforms. Google, for example, has banned a plethora of fake coronavirus apps from the Google Play Store, Facebook has been on a crackdown against fraudulent ads, and Twitter has been blocking accounts spreading bizarre conspiracy theories.
Several critics and experts, however, still argue that a lot more work needs to be done.
