Unless you’re living under a rock, you may have heard of these few terms in recent news: “Coronavirus” “COVID-19” “Wuhan”. World Health Organisation has announced this as a Pandemic, as it has affected almost all continents except for Antarctica, and it is spreading like wildfire, with the number of confirmed cases rapidly increasing.
This has cost a mass paranoia, all around the world, with people stress buying, surgical face masks and for some reason — fighting over toilet paper (I guess people forgot the use of water). But this is not the first time there has been a pandemic, and yet there is one particular reason for this hysteria now— easy media access.
Social media has undoubtedly been a huge influence in recent times, with tampered elections, radical religious movements and now the virus. With Big Tech companies who are already being flagged out for being an advocate of fake news, they are trying hastily to improve this frenzy.
Below are a few ways the Tech Giants are curbing the current situation:
- Facebook addressed online coronavirus rumours and banned ads that promoted the sale of medical face masks. Especially with a lack of supply, people were selling a box of face masks for up to $500 which in truth only costs a mere $5.
- Google flooded people’s search results with government alerts and removed YouTube videos urging people not to get treated. But again this is a tedious task within the google team and we cannot be sure that all of the videos will be taken down.
- Twitter highlighted official reports about what to do when showing symptoms, offering advice for brand communication and demoted crazy conspiracy theories (link not provided as it is best not to put light on these theories).
However, the problem also lies within the users. People are easily influenced by what they see in their newsfeed, just because someone that they trust, reposted something. Similarly, as I was scrolling my own feed, I had a friend who posted, where garlic water will cure the disease. Instead of immediately boiling garlic cloves, I went to check out if it was true.
I saw loads of credible sources, saying there are myths circulating on the internet about the cure for coronavirus. As much as garlic is good for health, nothing has been confirmed as the cure and we really shouldn't blindly trust what we see on the internet.
Social media can still help the community’s awareness and here are my own suggestions:
- They can shoutout to the reliable sources people should be looking at, such as local medical practitioners.
- Showcasing health news ads with those targeted ads that are shown to the public.
- With ad targeting and cookies being followed there should be an algorithm built to block potential fake news being shown to the user.
But again as much as, the internet is monitored, with the limited time, the users have to be more logical and rational when receiving the news. For now, all the reports tell, is that if you have no serious chronic medical conditions, you practice good hygiene and a touch of good karma, you shouldn’t be prone to this disease.
Regardless, stay safe all!
