Facebook Adds Coronavirus Page To Curb Spread Of Misinformation

Facebook (NASDAQ:FB) recently announced that it will add a coronavirus or COVID-19 information page at the top of the newsfeed section of its namesake social networking platform. The company’s founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg disclosed about the newly-added feature during its Mar 18 conference call.

With the recently-rolled out feature, the company will encourage more authoritative information regarding coronavirus on its platform. The COVID-19 information page will include messages from WHO and US health bodies, as well as tips related to social distancing and hand washing. Additionally, the page will display content from different communities, including health experts, academics, journalists and celebrities.

Facebook Gears Up to Counter Coronavirus Misinformation

Facebook’s latest feature addition to its platform reflects the company’s continued effort toward countering coronavirus misinformation. Notably, social media companies are witnessing spike in conspiracies related to coronavirus, including misleading or inaccurate claims, false testing methods and fake cures.

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At a time when fake news about COVID-19 is spreading faster than the virus itself, Facebook’s initiative will likely help prevent people from panicking and generate some positivity around its brand name.

Other social media companies are also trying to curb the spread of coronavirus misinformation on their platforms. Twitter (NYSE:TWTR) recently updated its strategy for monitoring tweets during the outbreak, which includes reviewing the rules and considering the ways in which it might need to evolve to record new account behavior.

Also, Microsoft’s (NASDAQ:MSFT) LinkedIn (NYSE:LNKD) has published a post containing links to information about finding trustworthy news sources and working remotely. A similar post has been made by Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) CEO Sundar Pichai.

Reddit has also published a blog post featuring discussions of public health experts. The company also stated that it might remove communities that contain misinformation from appearing in search results.

These companies have expressed their commitment in helping people stay connected, while also combating fraud and misinformation about the virus’ outbreak.

Zacks Rank

Facebook currently carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.

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