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As the coronavirus is spreading very rapidly across the globe, a bulk of fake news is also circulating via different social media websites and sources. These kinds of fake news cause extra panic among the people and lead them to take certain actions.
To put an end to this chaos, major tech players have come together to acknowledge and address the said issue as it causes unnecessary panic among the masses. Google, Reddit, YouTube, Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter issues a statement in which they jointly admit to taking all the necessary actions to tackle this issue.
“We are working closely together on COVID-19 response efforts,” the statement says. “We’re helping millions of people stay connected while also jointly combating fraud and misinformation about the virus, elevating authoritative content on our platforms, and sharing critical updates in coordination with government healthcare agencies around the world. We invite other companies to join us as we work to keep our communities healthy and safe.”
The said statement first appeared on Facebook’s covid-19 dedicate page. There has not been any kind of additional details about the said project, but the sites are supposed to sign these contents as fake to prevent the users from believing these news.
If it’s true, the action is well welcomed by the users, but there is still a worrying fact that these platforms have taken similar steps in the past with no useful outcome. Toxic content has been circulation on these sites from their beginning and has been one of the major arguments against these sites in the public eye.
All these websites have a bad reputation regarding their content monitoring policies. Facebook is known for allowing politically false advertising and ignoring its role in the genocide. Twitter is highly popular for extremist groups. Reddit allows a vast catalog of offensive content, and Youtube has a bunch of junk on its website.
LinkedIn is also criticized and termed as offensive due to several self-proclaimed business gurus posting ads to squeeze money from people.
Amidst all this, it’s kind of a relief to hear that all these companies are taking the required actions to stop the misinformation from spreading.
This extra monitoring may also have several effects in many ways to the creators and users of these sites.
Addressing the potential inconvenience, the statement said, “We recognize this may be a disruption for users and creators, but know this is the right thing to do for the people who work to keep YouTube safe and for the broader community. We appreciate everyone’s patience as we take these steps during this challenging time.”
It remains to be seen how effective these actions will be, but as the covid-19 is spreading, it can prove to be a very crucial move.