Amazon To EBay Bans Exploitation Of Masks Related To COVID-19

Ilustrasi masker (Image by panos13121 from Pixabay)

JAKARTA - Facebook and a number of marketplaces prohibit users from marketing medical products with the corona virus on their social media. This is done to prevent certain individuals from reaping the benefits of the COVID-19 virus outbreak.

Reporting from CNBC International, Facebook's Director for Product Management, Rob Leathern, said that the enforcement of this ban is expected to prevent traders from taking advantage of people's fear of the epidemic.

"We are monitoring COVID-19 closely and will make the necessary updates to our policies. If we see people trying to exploit this public health emergency," Rob wrote on his Twitter account.

Update: We're banning ads and commerce listings selling medical face masks. We're monitoring COVID19 closely and will make necessary updates to our policies if we see people trying to exploit this public health emergency. We'll start rolling out this change in the days ahead.

- Rob Leathern (@robleathern) March 7, 2020

Not only that, this social media made by Mark Zuckerberg will also remove hoax information related to the corona virus. This ban is also enforced on Instagram, limiting the use of keywords that exploit the availability of medical equipment.

"Supplies are running low, prices are rising, and we are against people exploiting this public health emergency," tweeted Instagram CEO Adam Mosseri.

Similar steps have also been taken by Amazon and eBay, by slightly changing the rules of sale and purchase related to COVID-19 related merchandise. Amazon will significantly remove the sales panel for masks, hand sanitizers and drugs that are claimed to cure the corona virus.

Thought this was a very effective way of communicating the key point that slowing the spread of COVID-19 is very important. https://t.co/C9GP8VKRWq

- Adam Mosseri (@mosseri) March 8, 2020

EBay, meanwhile, is taking decisive steps by deleting more than 20,000 unverified listings of items related to the coronavirus. Where in the CNBC report, the list of search for these items immediately jumped up at an unreasonable selling price.

It is different in Indonesia itself, the selling price of masks has also increased dramatically in the online market. The price range sold at Tokopedia and Shoppe for a box of masks sells for IDR 400 to IDR 1.7 million or an increase of 10 times the normal price.