Facebook tests a new way to verify fake news on its platform in Italy.
Angela Lang / CNET
For news and updates on the coronavirus pandemic, visit the WHO website.
Facebook is testing a new way to fight misinformation amid the crisis coronavirus.
According to a report from the Reuters agency, the company has launched a new service for WhatsApp users in Italy, which allows them to verify the authenticity of any content related to the coronavirus. Facebook says it is working with the Italian fact-checking service, Facta, to analyze the content circulating on WhatsApp in the country, including videos, audios or photos. Users can send the content to Facta via WhatsApp message to verify if it is authentic.
More about the COVID-19 coronavirus
Facta will send a notification to the user who sent the request and if it is false information, it will examine it and publish its website, where it has created a database with all the false content that they have been collecting about the coronavirus.
WhatsApp also recently created the Coronavirus Information Center in partnership with the World Health Organization, UNICEF, the United Nations Development Program, and the International Data Verification Network (IFCN). With this center he hopes to help users access the latest official information on the pandemic and connect with their friends and family during confinement.
The announcement comes a day after Google announced a similar effort to combat misinformation amid the pandemic. The company announced this week that will invest US $ 6.5 million to support fact-checkers and to non-profit organizations dedicated to verifying the quality of information about COVID-19.
Part of the support will go to LatamChequea, coordinated by Chequeado, which brings together 21 data corroboration organizations in 15 Spanish-speaking countries throughout Latin America. With this investment, Google says, organizations such as PolitiFact and Kaiser Health News will expand their partnership to verify data and combat misinformation surrounding COVID-19, the disease that causes the coronavirus.
More about the COVID-19 coronavirus
Italy is the country most affected in Europe by the COVID-19 pandemic and the second in the world after the United States. The coronavirus was detected in the city of Wuhan, China, and as of April 3 it has infected more than a million people and caused more than 54,000 deaths worldwide. On March 11, the WHO officially classified COVID-19 as a pandemic.
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