White House working with Facebook to ‘flag misinformation’ about Covid [Video]

WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW:

• During Thursday’s press conference, White House press secretary Jen Psaki said that the Biden administration is working to flag “problematic posts” about COVID-19 misinformation.
• Psaki said that most of the false information had come from “12 people.”
• Surgeon General Vivek Murthy said that such misinformation is one of the main challenges in curbing the pandemic.

White House press secretary Jen Psaki announced that the Biden administration is actively working with social media platforms as it seeks to flag ‘problematic’ or false information on Facebook regarding the COVID-19 pandemic.

White House senior staff were engaged in collaborative efforts alongside social networking companies to fight the spread of “misinformation specifically on the pandemic,” Psaki said during Thursday’s White house press conference.

“In terms of actions we are taking or that we’re working to take, I should say, from the federal government, we’ve increased disinformation research and tracking within the surgeon general’s office. We’re flagging problematic posts for Facebook that spread disinformation,” the press secretary noted.

Psaki also said that the federal government was also involved in collaborative efforts alongside “doctors, medical professionals, and experts who are popular with their audiences” in a bid to obtain “accurate information and boost trusted content.”

“We’re helping get trusted content out there. We also created the COVID-19 community cord to get trusted information into the hands of local messengers,” she continued.

According to Psaki, bulk of the anti-vaccine misinformation on social media has emanated from “12 people,” though she did not mention any specific individual or page.

Psaki’s remarks came moments following the health advisory of Surgeon General Vivek Murthy against certain COVID-19 misinformation campaigns.

Murthy said that “false, misleading, or inaccurate information” is “one of the biggest obstacles that’s preventing us from ending this pandemic.”

“Misinformation has also led to harassment of and violence against public health workers, health professionals, airline staff, and other frontline workers tasked with communicating evolving public health measures,” the surgeon general wrote.

“I am urging all Americans to help slow the spread of health misinformation during the COVID-19 pandemic and beyond,” he continued. “Health misinformation is a serious threat to public health. It can cause confusion, sow mistrust, harm people’s health, and undermine public health efforts. Limiting the spread of health misinformation is a moral and civic imperative that will require a whole-of-society effort.”

In the healthy advisory, social networking companies like Facebook and Twitter are urged to update their algorithms and designate more workers needed to track fake news and other bogus content that could threaten the halting of the pandemic.

With regard to the public, the advisory urges them to discern what type of health information they should believe or not, and to refrain from sharing false information. Citizens are also encouraged to help stop the spread of misinformation within their families and communities.

Source: YAHOO News