If a Facebook user has been exposed to any “fake news” about coronavirus, the social media platform will alert them by directing them to a website dedicated to debunking virus myths created by the World Health Organization.
The move to further limit the dissemination of misinformation on the social network was announced Thursday in a blog post written by the company’s vice president of integrity Guy Rosen.
“We want to connect people who may have interacted with harmful misinformation about the virus with the truth from authoritative sources in case they see or hear these claims again off of Facebook,” Rosen wrote.
If a user likes, comments on or reacts to a post that has been flagged as “harmful” by Facebook (FB), they will be directed to WHO’s myth busting website.
The new alert will not single out the specific post containing the misinformation, a Facebook spokesperson told NBC News.
The feature is the latest in a series of moves the company has taken to stop the spread of false information.
Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg posted the announcement on his profile page also sharing a new section called "Get The Facts."
The section will be housed on the platform's COVID-10 Information Center and contain articles written by independent fact-checking partners debunking misinformation about the coronavirus, Zuckerberg posted.