The major social networks today issued a joint statement on the coronavirus epidemic (COVID-19). In short, they promise to fight the misinformation circulating on their platforms.
Signatories include Facebook companies, GoogleLinkedin Microsoft, Reddit, Twitter and YouTube.
The joint statement was released following a conference call held last weekteam with the participation of White House executives, and all the above companies.
During the conference call, which reportedly lasted more than two hours, the White House asked US tech companies to help with the crisis, and among other things, stop spreading coronavirus conspiracy theories circulating online.
In a joint statement today, the seven largest social networks said they would work with each other and with government health services around the world to tackle misinformation related to COVID-19.
"We help millions of people stay online while simultaneously combating fraud and misinformation about the virus by allowing valid content on our platforms and sharing critical updates in coordination with government healthcare companies around the world," they said.
The joint statement does not describe how companies will manage fraud and misinformation about COVID-19.
In fact, the major social networks will try to fight false advertisements with COVID-19 treatments, news articles from unknown sources or with misinformation, as well as videos that convey conspiracy theories about the origin of the disease.
Nevertheless, some of the social networks that signed the joint statement today tried to limit the fake content shared on their platforms even before today's announcement.
For example, Google has banned them applications Androids related to COVID-19, Facebook has removed misleading ads and Twitter has blocked various conspiracy theories circulating on its accounts.
However, these efforts are not enough, according to some critics, and much work is still needed.
For example, despite the fact that it was obvious and obviously false, that President Trump getting readyn for the US lock down went viral on various social networks, leading many Americans to needlessly prepare and stockpile for an extended quarantine.
