Facebook tries to flatten the curve of fake and harmful Covid-19 news

Facebook on Thursday announced it had partnered more than 60 third-party fact-checking organisations across the globe to help curb fake and harmful news relating to Covid-19.

The organisations cover news and information in 50 languages.

Through Facebook’s Newsfeed, users who interact with harmful Covid-19 claims will receive messages on Covid-19 myths debunked by the WHO, including misinformation that has led to imminent physical harm.

Kojo Boakye, head of public policy at Facebook Africa, said: “As this pandemic evolves, we will continue focusing on the most effective ways to keep misinformation about Covid-19 off our apps and ensure people have credible information from health experts globally and locally.”

This step aims to ensure that all Facebook users who may have interacted with harmful information about the virus get the truth from authoritative sources in case they encounter these claims again on Facebook.

“Throughout the Covid-19 pandemic, Facebook has connected people to accurate information from health experts to keep harmful misinformation about Covid-19 from spreading on its apps.

“These efforts have seen the company direct more than 2-billion people to resources from the WHO and other health authorities through its Covid-19 information centre and pop-ups on Facebook and Instagram with more than 350-million people clicking through to learn more,” Facebook said.

The company said that once a piece of content was rated false by fact-checkers, Facebook reduced its distribution and showed warning labels with more context.

“During March, Facebook displayed warnings on about 40-million posts, based on about 4,000 articles by its independent fact-checking partners.”