Rumors, Trolls And Misinformation Getting More Contagious Than Coronavirus Itself
Amid novel coronavirus (2019 nCoV) outbreak in China with multiple cases abroad, the World Health Organization on Saturday said that the United Nation’s Health Agency is not just battling with the 2019 nCoV virus, they are also battling the trolls, misinformation and rumors going around the social media.
Till 8 February, the latest figures of coronavirus were about 34,598 confirmed cases in China and nearly 723 deaths. Outside China, there were over 288 cases in 24 countries, with 1 death, stated WHO.
In a high-level meeting, the Director General of WHO Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said: “At WHO, we’re not just battling the coronavirus; we’re also battling the trolls and conspiracy theorists that push misinformation. People must have accurate information to protect themselves and others.
“While the 2019nCoV virus spreads, misinformation makes the job of our heroic health workers even harder. It is diverting the attention of decision makers. And it causes confusion and spreads fear to the general public,” Dr Tedros tweeted.
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“We are also engaging with search, social and digital companies such as Facbook, Google, Tencent Global, Baidu, Twitter, Tiktok, Weibo, Pinterest etc… and asking them to filter out false information and promote accurate information from credible sources like WHO, Centre for Disease Control (CDC) and others.”
“We are connecting with influencers, through Instagram, YouTube among others to help spread factual messages to their followers, with a focus on the Asia-Pacific region,” he said.
“In essence, to fight the flood of misinformation, we are building a band of truth-tellers that disperse fact and debunk myths,” he added.
“To ensure as many people as know the facts, we are publishing “myth busters” and live question/answer interviews with our experts on 2019nCoV on our channels. “WHO’s ‘infodemics’ team is working hand in glove with our communications department to deliver information to a broader public audience”
We’re leveraging our existing network called EPI-WIN – which stands for WHO Information Network for Epidemics. The WHO’s risk communications and ‘infodemic’ management team actively track misinformation in multiple languages.
