Facebook to Warn Users Who 'Like' Bad Coronavirus Info

Facebook will soon begin warning users when they interact with dangerous misinformation about the coronavirus.

A notice will be sent to users who have clicked on, reacted to, or commented on posts with harmful or false claims about COVID-19 after they have been removed by moderators. The notification, which will start appearing on Facebook in the next few weeks, will direct users to a site where the World Health Organization debunks misinformation about the virus.

Facebook said that in March it put more than 40 million warning labels on videos, posts or articles about the coronavirus that fact-checking organizations had determined to be false or misleading. Facebook says those warning labels have stopped 95% of users from clicking on the false information.

"It’s a big indicator that people are trusting the fact-checkers," said Baybars Orsek, director of the International Fact-Checking Network. However, Orsek also said that Facebook's data should be reviewed by outside editors or experts, and that the company should give regular updates about the impact of its fact-checking.

Facebook has recruited dozens of news organizations around the globe to check bad information. The Associated Press is part of that program.

Facebook will also begin promoting articles that debunk COVID-19 misinformation on a new information center called "Get The Facts."

Still, misinformation about the coronavirus continues to pop up on the site.

A study by Avaaz, a group that tracks and researches online misinformation, found more than 100 pieces of misinformation about the coronavirus on Facebook, and they were viewed millions of times even after the claims had been marked as false or misleading by fact-checkers. Other false claims on the site were not marked as misinformation, despite being found to be false by fact-checkers.

In its report, Avaaz said that coronavirus misinformation spreads faster than Facebook’s current system can track it. The group noted that it can take as long as 22 days for Facebook to label misinformation — giving it plenty of time to spread.

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