Facebook Will Remove Fake News About Coronavirus Cures And Prevention Methods

On Thursday, Facebook said that it will delete harmful misinformation about the Wuhan coronavirus, which includes posts about false prevention methods and cures, along with content discouraging people from looking for treatment.

Besides, the tech giant will block hashtags that are used for spreading misinformation about the epidemic on its other social platform Instagram. Facebook makes this move after WHO declared the coronavirus a public health emergency of global concern also on Thursday.

According to the head of health at Facebook, Kang-Xing Jin, while the public health community around the world is working to keep people safe, the social network is contributing to this effort in many ways. Especially, it’s has been working to limit the spread of harmful content as well as misinformation about the virus while connecting people across the globe to reliable, helpful info.

The Chinese coronavirus originated in Wuhan and has spread around Asia, to the US, Europe, the Middle East, and Australia. The illness has symptoms similar to pneumonia, like fever and cough. The virus, whose official name is 2019-nCoV, was first reported to the World Health Organization on December 31. Until now, over 9,700 people have been confirmed infected with the coronavirus and over 200 confirmed dead from the virus.

Apart from limiting harmful content and misinformation about the coronavirus infection, Facebook also said that it is working with the World Health Organization as well as other partners to provide people with relevant, up-to-date info via messages on the top of the News Feed on its platform. There will also be a pop-up showing credible info when users search for coronavirus-related content on Facebook or tap on a hashtag related to the virus on Instagram.

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