Facebook and Instagram are getting into the US debate about face masks with a clear message: You must wear them.
Facebook, which owns Instagram, said Thursday that it would start putting an alert at the top of the feed on the two social media apps to remind people to wear face covers as the number of coronavirus cases in the world increases. USA
“When you are in public, cover your mouth and nose with a cloth covering your face,” the alert said, according to screenshots published by the company on a blog.
The new feature puts Facebook on the side of doctors and public health experts in a debate over the masks that have been unleashed for weeks across the country, from local government meetings to inside the White House. It also joins the platform’s proactive efforts to send authoritative coronavirus information to users.
The masks help reduce the spread of the coronavirus, according to experts who point to recent studies and evidence from other countries showing that even plain cloth masks have some effect.
Tech companies have not always been as prominent in promoting the use of masks, in contrast to their aggressive push in the early days of the pandemic in March and April, when they promoted measures like staying home.
Experts on how the fake medical advice is spread online said they were encouraged by the Facebook announcement and wondered why the company had not done so before.
“In July, for them to take that stance, it seems late,” said Whitney Phillips, a communication professor at Syracuse University who studies social media.
“It would have been really helpful to have presented that position while we were reopening,” he said. “Instead, our discussion of masks turned into a discussion of freedom rather than epidemiological benefit.”
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention began urging Americans to wear cloth face covers in public on April 2. She says everyone should wear a cloth face covering in public places.
But the masks have proven to be politically divisive, at least until this week. More Republican lawmakers have urged people to wear them, and on Wednesday, President Donald Trump gave strong backing after generally refusing to wear a mask in public settings. Texas imposed a mask requirement on Thursday.
Facebook said its decision to promote masks had nothing to do with the President’s enthusiastic appreciation for them.
“This decision is based on public health and the messages that come from our partners. Like everyone else, we are concerned about the recent increase in cases and think this was an especially important message to go out loud for the holiday weekend, “Facebook said in an emailed statement.
And the company said it has been promoting masks since the beginning of May through a page dedicated to information about COVID-19. Facebook said it also removes some posts that contradict official medical advice, including on the masks.
Alerts on news channels began Thursday in the US in English and Spanish and will soon spread to more countries, the company said.
Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg had taken a personal position in favor of wearing masks before the company’s announcement. On Tuesday, he posted a photo on his Facebook timeline of him and his wife Priscilla Chan wearing masks with the caption, “Please wear a mask. Covid is rapidly spreading again and the masks help keep people healthy and keep the country open. “
It was not immediately clear if other social media apps would feel pressure to follow the lead of such a prominent message, but many companies have taken steps during the pandemic to push authoritative public health information.
Twitter, like Facebook, said it has required users to remove some posts from its network with false or unproven claims about skins. One of those posts was from a Florida congressional candidate on June 23, claiming without evidence that “overuse of face masks causes fungal and bacterial pneumonia.”
In other cases of misleading mask information, Twitter said it can leave a tweet but add a link that directs people to authorized information.
On Thursday, Twitter tried to convince people to wear masks by considering the possibility of a frequently requested feature as an incentive. “It may have an edit button when everyone wears a mask,” the company tweeted from a corporate account.
Snapchat added this week a selfie lens that detects when someone is wearing a face cover and allows them to customize it. If they have their faces uncovered, the function displays a message: “WEAR A FACE MASK”.
The company said it also had other content related to skins, including a World Health Organization public service announcement slated for this weekend.
Snapchat said in a statement it wants “to do our part to help normalize the use of face masks, as directed by public health officials.”
Google has modified the results of its search engine to prominently display information from the CDC and other medical authorities when people attempt certain search queries about skins. The company said Thursday that it continues to have information on YouTube and Google addressing the CDC guidelines, which include the use of masks. She didn’t say if she was considering doing something else that would be specific to the masks.
On Reddit, the home page links to the CDC website and the r / coronavirus message board, which has become a destination for authoritative discussions and information.
Kellie Owens, a health information researcher at the non-profit organization Data & Society, said tech companies, like everyone else, heard inconsistent statements early in the pandemic by medical authorities about the masks. Back then, some experts advised against buying or wearing masks, warning that people could be mistaken or exhaust the supply of personal protective equipment needed for hospital workers.
Coronavirus volunteers who crafted masks were even caught in the crossfire when Facebook removed some of their online posts, The New York Times reported in April.
“The true failure of public health messages in the masks seems to play a bigger role here by confusing tech companies about what the correct answer is,” Owens said.
