While Facebook seems to give less than a shit about the rampant racism crippling its platform, they at least appear to be vigilant in their quest to keep users safe and informed regarding the coronavirus.
To that end, Facebook has taken a number of steps to ensure that its billions of users aren’t misled by harmful content or misinformation, have access to info that is both accurate and prompt from trusted sources, and that global health experts, local governments, businesses, and communities are supported by its massive platform.
And looking to up the ante, the company announced on Wednesday that we’ll all soon be blessed with the Coronavirus (COVID-19) Information Center, which will appear at the top of our News Feeds. It’ll serve as an information hub for the latest news and information pertaining to the virus, as well as provide invaluable tips, videos, and resources to keep each of our asses healthy and safe.
“We want to ensure that misinformation doesn’t spread,” Facebook chairman Mark Zuckerberg told The Root during a conference call with select press. “[We’re] trying to encourage more authoritative information [...] in collaboration with a lot of our health partners.”
This feature will roll out within the next 24 hours in the United States, with additional countries to come within the next few days.
In its efforts to combat the spread of the coronavirus, Facebook also revealed that it will offer the premium version of its cloud-based software for businesses, Workplace Advanced, to government agencies and emergency personnel free of charge for the next 12 months. Considering the vital role they play in collecting important information and acting as first responders, according to Facebook, using Workplace will allow these entities to “help inform and connect their employees, allowing them to share critical information in real-time and enabling leadership to reach employees via live videos, posts and more.”
All in all, it sounds like Facebook is doing the Lord’s work in trying to curtail the misinformation around this pandemic.
I just need them to try a little harder to bring the NBA back.