In the wake of COVID 19, ensuring correct and honest information is disseminated to individuals has never been more important. Now more than ever, people need to hear about society’s big plan to socially isolate ourselves and maintain higher sanitization standards than we are used to. The threat of misinformation is a threat to the health and wellbeing of ourselves, our loved ones, and communities.
In the wake of this threat, large online companies are taking action to prevent deceptive and unfair practices. This measure helps to ensure that correct information is distributed and that vulnerable populations are not taken advantage of.
One example of this is Facebook announcing restrictions on coronavirus related ads. (See more info here: https://advertisinglaw.fkks.com/post/102g02c/facebook-announces-restrictions-on-coronavirus-related-ads). Under their new policy, ads are prohibited that refer to the virus in ways “intended to create a panic or imply that their products guarantee a cure or prevent people from contracting it”. The company also said they are working with world health officials to connect people with information from regional and local health organizations to limit the spread of misinformation and harmful content about the virus. If you search for any coronavirus related information on Facebook, you will receive automatic pop-ups from the World Health Organization. This represents a substantial shift away from Facebook’s past responses to issues of political misinformation, which are best described as negligent and worse described as criminal.
Another giant implementing restrictions is Amazon. (See more info here: https://advertisinglaw.fkks.com/post/102g0ft/amazon-removes-more-than-one-million-products-for-inflated-prices-or-false-corona). Recently, the site has removed more than a million products for reasons of price gouging and false health claims relating to coronavirus.
Amazon’s Fair Pricing Policy requires that prices which “harm consumer trust” are removed. In addition, the policy prohibits setting misleading reference prices, setting significantly higher prices than recent amazon prices of the same product/service, selling multiple units of a product at higher prices than a single unit, and setting excessive shipping fees. This has punished those who have engaged in bulk buying hand sanitizer and toilet paper hoping to profit over those in need.
Despite these practices, earlier this week I was sent a post listing helpful coronavirus tips from a loved one. The post claimed to be from a member of the Stanford medical board. The next day, I learned not only that the post was fake, but that the tips were extremely dangerous if followed. This post was shared hundreds of thousands of times, which doesn’t even account for sharing through text or direct message. (More info here: https://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/gadgets-and-tech/news/coronavirus-symptoms-stanford-tips-protection-pandemic-advice-a9399621.html). The list of tips indicated that individuals could tell if they had the disease by holding their breath for ten seconds to see if their lungs were damaged. It also claimed the virus could not survive on clothing and recommended hot drinks over cold to kill the virus. Experts dubbed the advice “totally bogus” and Stanford has recently worked to distance themselves from the post.
I wonder how many fake posts like this exist, and if they have any part to play in contributing to the devastation in places like Italy and China. Even a quick glance at my Facebook wall shows many, many shared notes claiming to come from nurses on the frontlines of the disease. It is so hard to know what is real and fake, especially as this situation is escalating so quickly and changing every hour. The limited availability for testing also contributes to societal fear along with the understanding that the statistics are not likely to be truly representative.
The steps that Facebook and Amazon are taking should be commended, however, it is also clear that now more than ever before more work must be done to combat misinformation. The health of the world is at stake, and with more people working remotely, replacing in-person contact with online socializing, and attempting to work from home through new unfamiliar technologies, we need more support from technology companies.
Claire
Thank you for your post, Claire. I just stumbled on this interesting related article (https://nakedsecurity.sophos.com/2020/03/19/facebook-accidentally-blocks-genuine-covid-19-news/) which demonstrates some of the potential issues that arise when large companies, such as Facebook, endeavour to remove harmful content from their platforms.
The article reports that Facebook has accidentally removed genuine COVID-19 news from its site. While Facebook states that it has restored all affected posts, this demonstrates the dangers in relying on platforms like Facebook for news. That said, I am glad that Facebook is taking action to stop the spread of misinformation and fake news, and to provide users with legitimate information, particularly with respect to COVID-19.