US President opined that Social Media platforms are ‘Killing People’ with false information

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This statement was made by US President Joe Biden in reference to false information spread about COVID vaccines through social media platforms and the companies are not able to put a check on such activities.

About

This statement came out after misinformation was spread about vaccines threat to public health.

This false information about COVID-19 assumed as ‘infodemic’ by World Health Organization is lethal. The social media platforms and companies should make significant changes to their products and software to shrink the reach of fallacious information while increasing access to authoritative, fact-based sources.

Facebook has refuted these accusations and said that Facebook is rather helping people in every possible way to save people’s lives.

Twitter has also promised to provide valid health information through its platform.

INFODEMIC

An infodemic is too much information including false or misleading information in digital and physical environments during a disease outbreak. It causes confusion and risk-taking behaviours that can harm health. It also leads to mistrust in health authorities and undermines the public health response. An infodemic can intensify or lengthen outbreaks when people are unsure about what they need to do to protect their health and the health of people around them. With growing digitization – an expansion of social media and internet use – information can spread more rapidly. This can help to more quickly fill information voids but can also amplify harmful messages.

Infodemic management aims to enable good health practices through 4 types of activities:

• Listening to community concerns and questions
• Promoting understanding of risk and health expert advice
• Building resilience to misinformation
• Engaging and empowering communities to take positive action