Facebook, Google, Twitter, Microsoft, and Reddit Team up Against Coronavirus

The leading tech giants in the world Facebook Inc, Alphabet Inc.’s Google, Microsoft Corp., Twitter Inc., and Reddit have joined hands to provide accurate information regarding coronavirus and the illness it causes.

According to a joint statement from the companies,  “We’re helping millions of people stay connected while also jointly combating fraud and misinformation about the virus, elevating authoritative content on our platforms, and sharing critical updates in coordination with government healthcare agencies around the world.”

Also, Microsoft’s LinkedIn and Google’s YouTube are part of this initiative. These technology giants said that other social networks and companies can join them.

The White House Office of Science and Technology Policy said it “has convened, and will continue to, a number of meetings with different groups of American tech companies and industry associations as part of our whole-of-America response to COVID-19.”

Before this announcement, Facebook and YouTube pledged to fight misinformation. The director-general of the World Health Organization said that disinformation is a conference on Feb. 15, almost a month before the WHO declared COVID-19 a pandemic officially.

Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said “We’re not just fighting an epidemic; we’re fighting an infodemic. Fake news spreads faster and more easily than this virus, and is just as dangerous.”

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However, not just the tech companies are fighting the spread of misleading posts by the public, they also have to contend with false or misleading information in many of the public statements by President Donald Trump on COVID-19 which includes his tweets and Facebook posts.