Facebook Introduces New Tool To Reveal Users Who Spread COVID-19 Misinformation

Facebook has over 300 million users in India. The social media platform has announced that It will actively start notifying those users who have liked, commented on, or shared COVID-19 related misinformation.

Facebook hopes the step will stop the spread of wrong information about the coronavirus online. The social media platform has already circulated fact-checking articles about the worldwide pandemic through its partnerships with many media firms. Facebook vice president Guy Rosen said in a post that Facebook wants to identify users who have shared or engaged with wrong information about Coronavirus.

Mark Zuckerberg said in a report, Facebook will also start showing a message in the news feed to a user who has shared misinformation about coronavirus previously. The platform will also link them to the correct information.

The messages will appear in a suitable language for users who have previously clicked or shared wrong news about the virus and provide them with authentic sources like the WHO.

Facebook has flagged 40 million posts related to the virus based on the 4,000 posts reviewed by independent fact-checkers AFP. As the post is a warning so, when people noticed the post 95% of the time, they did not go to check the original content, said Mark Zuckerberg.

Another new article which is written by fact-checking service, named 'Get the Facts' will highlight coronavirus articles on Facebook.

According to an article by AFP's Fact-Checkers, this new tool is a useful remedy against COVID-19. Facebook claimed that on its main platform and Instagram, more than 350 million of its two billion people have now clicked via the coronavirus information center which was launched last month.

The social media giant has also limited the number of times users can forward messages its WhatsApp, to control the spreading of misinformation.