Instagram rolls out 2 features to combat Covid misinformation

The company said that with more countries around the world seeing a rise in COVID-19 cases, the new notification features will help people stay up-to-date and get information from credible sources directly on Instagram.

New Delhi: After Facebook and Twitter, Instagram on Friday announced to roll out two new features to help tackle the spread of Covid-19 misinformation on its platform.

The company said that with more countries around the world seeing a rise in COVID-19 cases, the new notification features will help people stay up-to-date and get information from credible sources directly on Instagram.

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“First, in places where cases are surging, people will see a prompt at the top of their Feed, connecting them to health authorities such as the CDC, WHO or their local counterparts,” Instagram said in a tweet.

Second, in addition to removing widely debunked claims about the Covid-19 vaccines, “when people search for terms related to vaccines or Covid-19, we’ll direct them to information from credible health authorities”.

Earlier, Twitter announced to remove tweets making false or misleading claims about Covid-19 vaccinations from next week and label such fake claims from early next year.

Using a combination of technology and human review, Twitter said that it will begin enforcing this updated policy on December 21 and expanding its actions during the following weeks.

From early 2021, Twitter may label or place a warning on Tweets that advance unsubstantiated rumours, disputed claims, as well as incomplete or out-of-context information about vaccines.

The Twitter action came after reports surfaced earlier this week that Facebook will now send notifications directly to users who like, share, or comment on such posts.

According to a report from Fast Company, the social network is changing how it reaches people who have encountered misinformation on its platform.

“The company will now send notifications to anyone who has liked, commented, or shared a piece of Covid-19 misinformation that’s been taken down for violating the platform’s terms of service,” the report said.