Facebook, Twitter, Google say 'jointly combating' COVID-19 misinformation

US tech giants including Google, Facebook, and Twitter, assured in a statement that they are working closely together on the novel coronavirus response efforts. In the joint industry statement, the tech giants said that they are jointly combating fraud and misinformation about the coronavirus.

“We’re helping millions of people stay connected while also...elevating authoritative content on our platforms, and sharing critical updates in coordination with government healthcare agencies around the world,” read the statement.

Instagram Communications had said in a series of tweets that they were removing known harmful misinformation related to COVID-19. It said that if someone taps on a hashtag related to COVID-19, it will show resources from the World Health Organisation, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and local health authorities.

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Instagram also started sending posts that may be misleading to its fact-checking partners for review and blocking and restricting hashtags that are being used to spread misinformation.

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Facebook, Apple pledge donation 

On March 13, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced that they have worked with the United Nations Foundation and the World Health Organization to start a COVID-19 Solidarity Response Fund where anyone who wants to help fight coronavirus can make a donation. Zuckerberg, in a Facebook post, also pledged to match up to $10 million in donations saying 100 per cent of funds will directly support the work to prevent, detect and respond to the outbreak around the world.

“We’ll also match $10 million for the CDC Foundation, which will launch a fundraiser in the next few weeks focused on combating the outbreak here in the US,” said the Facebook CEO.

Apple Inc. CEO Tim Cook also pledged $15 million to help the worldwide recovery from the novel coronavirus. He said that the company is matching donations of its employees with two-to-one proportion to support COVID-19 response efforts locally, nationally and internationally.

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