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At the time of the crisis, when faced with new and poorly understood threats, rumors and conspiracy theories will emerge and multiply rapidly.
In our history, misinformation and misinformation have played a chilling role in contributing to conflicts like World War I and II, the Balkan conflict of the 1990s, and the most recent deadly natural disasters. This is not a new development.
The biggest problem we face today is the low cost, low speed, and low scale of spreading false information. During the 2019 coronavirus pandemic, the network we rely on to stay informed and connected is being used to spread misinformation stemming from the crisis. This is almost the first global disease pandemic in the age of social media, which is why false stories are spreading at unprecedented speed and scale.
UN Secretary-General Guterres said that while our common enemy is the 2019 coronavirus, the other enemy is the “informer” of misinformation and false information. To overcome this, we urgently need to promote facts and science, hope and unity, not despair and division.
People should obtain accurate information from trusted media channels and trusted sources, such as the United Nations, WHO and other established public health agencies. At the same time, this alone is not enough to bridge the information gap that we are currently experiencing.
Encouraging signs of quick action
A recent study from Oxford University revealed that between a quarter and almost two-thirds of all fake and inaccurate content related to 2019 coronavirus disease exists on all major social platforms.
The current crisis gives us the opportunity to learn how to create a technology equivalent to maintaining social distance, let’s call it “digital distance”, to avoid the rapid spread of erroneous information.
The digital community responded quickly to the spread of misinformation during the crisis.
For example, Facebook has taken a number of actions to remove false and misleading posts about the 2019 coronavirus, and has strengthened its fact-checking team. They also cooperate with the World Health Organization to share reliable health updates. Twitter, Google, and YouTube have also promised to remove false information from their feeds, remove links to fake news, and remove inaccurate videos.
However, despite so many wishes in the world, taming this huge digital octopus has turned out to be more challenging than we expected.
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UN News / Daniel Dickinson
The World Health Organization is working with Facebook to address the rise of misinformation about vaccines on social media platforms. (September 2019)
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Great challenges ahead
We should be able to resolve the generation of false information and false information from the source; refusing to provide oxygen for the dissemination of false information; and through education, improve the user’s ability to identify inaccurate or suspicious information.
As digital citizens, we must act wisely to combat false information. This is a critical time for us to strengthen digital cooperation to overcome this challenge.
Cooperation between different departments is needed: we need social media companies to prevent misinformation from spreading on their platforms; We need governments and international organizations to respect and protect individual human rights as we find solutions that balance today’s critical needs.
While we provide better educational opportunities for users, we should also do a better review of the content on the platform. Those who want to cause harm to spread harmful content has never been easier.
Frequently asked questions are: How to stop the spread of false information while maintaining freedom of expression?
Traditional media in countries with a history of freedom of expression have long negotiated to maintain this balance because they seek to maintain diversity of opinion and freedom of expression, while ensuring that widely disseminated content remains moderate and protects public interests. and security. Today, with the rapid spread of social media worldwide, maintaining this balance has become increasingly difficult.
Finally, the problem of obtaining critical information in digital challenges must also be solved. We know that digital networks can become a very powerful force, which is useful for the rapid dissemination of accurate information among communities, especially in emergency situations. But what about 3.6 billion people who still can’t connect?
WHO, ITU and UNICEF are working with telecommunication operators to try to share this coronavirus health update information via text messages to solve this problem for the benefit of the 2 billion people who still use phones. 2 G.
Opportunity to find a solution
The innovative use of technology to counter the spread of misinformation is emerging worldwide. For example, in Rwanda, drones are used to transmit public information to help protect communities. UNESCO has collaborated with radio stations to provide free, high-quality information about the 2019 coronavirus in multiple languages.
Where there is a communication connection, it is important that you can spread secure, useful and rich content.
The current crisis gives us the opportunity to learn how to create a technology equivalent to social distance, let’s call it “digital distance”, to stop the spread of erroneous information by viruses, while taking advantage of popularity and Everywhere to promote public health and security.
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World Bank Photo / Simone D. McCourtie
United Nations human rights experts said today that some of the information sharing network models currently used by the national government and the private sector seriously threaten people’s right to privacy and should be reassessed.
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