As the coronavirus continues to spread, so does misinformation about the mysterious illness, prompting platforms like Facebook, Twitter and Google to take steps to counter the “fake news.”
What’s going on: False and harmful claims about the coronavirus have been circulating on social media, including a claim that drinking bleach would cure the disease, according to The Washington Post.
Facebook will begin removing false claims about the coronavirus and increase its fact-checking efforts, Facebook’s head of health, Kang-Xing Jin, wrote in a blog post on Thursday, according to CNN.
The social media platform will “remove content with false claims or conspiracy theories that have been flagged by leading global health organizations and local health authorities that could cause harm to people who believe them,” Jin said, according to CNN.
Facebook will also begin to place warning labels on false information and notify users when they share inaccurate posts, USA Today reported.
Google will begin promoting reliable sources (such as health experts and institutions) at the top of search results, according to USA Today.
Meanwhile YouTube, which is owned by Google, will promote videos from authoritative sources in the “watch next” section of the site, USA Today reported.
Twitter will prompt users who search for terms like “coronavirus” to visit official sites, such as the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention for U.S. users, according to CNN.
There have been an estimated 15 million tweets about the coronavirus in recent weeks, according to The Washington Post.