Fighting Misinformation in the Time of COVID-19, One Click at a Time

“To try to control the COVID-19 infodemic, WHO has teamed up with the United Kingdom Government to create and distribute content to combat the spread of misinformation through a series of communication campaigns. This was one of several initiatives to combat misinformation taken by WHO on its own and with partners since the start of the COVID-19 outbreak.”

“‘Stop the Spread’ rolled out on BBC World television, website and apps during May and June 2020. It aimed to raise the public’s awareness of the volume of misinformation around COVID-19 and encourage people to double check information, therefore limiting the damage and spread of false information. ‘Reporting Misinformation’, launched in August, galvanized people to not only verify information but showed them how to report misinformation to various social media platforms. In addition to powerful social media messages, an innovative online game called Go Viral! was created, based on previous research which has shown just one play can reduce perceived reliability of fake news by an average of 21%.”

Last modified: June 6, 2021

Language: English