The biggest social networks today issued a joint statement on the coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak. In short, they promise to fight misinformation circulating on their platforms.
Signatories include Facebook companies, GoogleLinkedin Microsoft, Reddit, Twitter and YouTube.
The joint statement came after a video conference last week involving White House executives and all of the companies.
During the teleconference, which reportedly lasted more than two hours, the White House called on US technology companies to help with the crisis and, among other things, to stop the spread of 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.
"Βοηθούμε εκατομμύρια ανθρώπων να είναι online ενώ ταυτόχρονα καταπολεμούμε από κοινού την απάτη και την παραπληροφόρηση σχετικά με τον ιό, επιτρέποντας έγκυρο περιεχόμενο στις πλατφόρμες μας και μοιράζοντας κρίσιμες ενημερώσεις σε συντονισμό με κυβερνητικούς οργανισμούς υγειονομικής περίθαλψης σε όλο τον κόσμο", αναφέρουν οι εταιρείες.
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.
Παρ 'όλα αυτά, ορισμένα από τα κοινωνικά δίκτυα που υπέγραψαν σήμερα την κοινή δήλωση προσπαθούσαν να περιορίσουν το ψευδές περιεχόμενο που μοιράζεται στις πλατφόρμες τους και πριν από τη σημερινή ανακοίνωση.
For example, Google has banned Android apps related to COVID-19, Facebook has remove misleading ads and Twitter has been cracking down on 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 being fawater and obviously false, that President Trump getting readyn for US lock down went viral on various social networks, leading many Americans to prepare unnecessarily and store various for a prolonged quarantine.
