Indian Government Launches Telegram Channel To Prevent COVID-19 Misinformation

The Russia-based instant messaging app, Telegram Messenger, with a dedicated user-base globally, has announced that it is working with the governments as well as health ministries during the COVID-19 pandemic. In its official press release, Telegram claimed that its channels are one of the most powerful broadcasting tools that can reach an unlimited number of audiences with high authenticity.

And in order to bring to the users the correct information while curbing the circulation of fake news, Telegram has assisted health departments of several countries including India, Kazakhstan, Israel, Saudi Arabia, Malaysia, Spain, Singapore, Uzbekistan, and Ukraine to create official verified channels.

At these countries, the channels appear at the top for COVID-19-related search results, providing people with verified information from verified medical practitioners instead of misinformation and conspiracy theories from unverified sources.

Compared to WhatsApp, its biggest competitor, the approach of Telegram to deal with fake news isn’t too different. The Facebook-owned company has been dealing with this since the COVID-19 pandemic started to break out. WhatsApp recently partnered with the World Health Organization and the Indian government to launch a dedicated chatbot that is accessible for anyone who wants to search for pandemic-related authentic information.

Meanwhile, Telegram admits that on its platform, misinformation is a problem, saying it is important to differentiate authenticated trustworthy sources and fake channels.

As a solution, using @verifybot, all channels on the platform have to go through a verification proves. Users also receive notifications about channels run by the governments.

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