In a new move to stop the spread of dangerous and false information about the coronavirus, Facebook will start telling people when they’ve interacted with posts about bogus cures, hoaxes and other false claims.
In the coming weeks, Facebook users who liked, reacted to or commented on potentially harmful debunked content will see a message in their news feeds directing them to the World Health Organization’s Myth busters page. There, the WHO dispels some of the most common falsehoods about the pandemic.
“We want to connect people who may have interacted with harmful misinformation about the virus with the truth from authoritative sources in case they see or hear these claims again off of Facebook,” wrote Guy Rosen, Facebook’s vice president for integrity, in a blog post.
The new feature will go beyond Facebook’s current attempts to keep dangerous misinformation about the virus off its network. Up until now, it has been notifying users only when they share a post that fact-checkers have labeled false.
This week, U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres warned the world is facing “a dangerous epidemic of misinformation” about the coronavirus. And on Wednesday, the global advocacy group Avaaz released a study saying millions of users have been exposed to coronavirus-related misinformation on Facebook.
The study pointed to conspiracy theories that the virus was created by the World Health Organization and the Gates Foundation; touted false cures such as oregano oil and garlic; and gave the potentially lethal recommendation that drinking chlorine dioxide, an industrial bleach, will “destroy” the virus…
To read the entire article from NPR, click https://www.npr.org/2020/04/16/835579533/did-you-fall-for-a-coronavirus-hoax-facebook-will-let-you-know
