JAKARTA - The White House has started working with social media platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and Google to tackle misinformation around COVID-19. This was done in order to reduce the number of anti-vaccine groups that disseminate hoax information.
"Disinformation that causes doubts about vaccines will be a huge hurdle to getting vaccines to everyone and there is no longer a big player besides social media", said United States presidential chief of staff Ron Klain, as quoted by Reuters, Tuesday, February 23.
"We talked to them...so they understand how important misinformation and disinformation are and how they can deal with it immediately", he said.
The US government strives to prevent misinformation content from going viral on social media. Some time ago anti-vaccine supporters held an action at Dodger Stadium, Los Angeles earlier this month.
The protests started on a Facebook group that refused information about the coronavirus, masks, and immunizations. Demonstrators briefly closed public access to the stadium, which is one of the vaccination centers.
The anti-vaccine movement in the US is widely circulating on social media. A report from the Center for Countering Digital Health in July 2020 found anti-vaccine accounts followed by 7-8 million since 2019.
"Provide whatever assistance we can", said one Facebook spokesperson in fighting hoaxes on social media platforms.
Facebook confirmed their policy to delete pages, groups, and accounts that often spread misinformation about COVID-19 and vaccines. Meanwhile, Twitter stated that it regularly communicates with the White House on important issues, including COVID-19.
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