How Twitter fights misinformation around COVID-19

Twitter is working with Indian health organisations and government authorities to put forth credible information on COVID-19.

As the world combats with the COVID-19 pandemic, Twitter is working domestically to identify trusted partners, including the Indian public health authorities, organizations, and governments. Mahima Kaul, Director, Public Policy, India and South Asia, Twitter, “We understand our role as an essential service for both the government to communicate with citizens and for the public to stay connected with each other."

"We are ensuring that everyone on the service has access to the latest and credible updates as we all navigate the COVID-19 crisis. Online communities and conversations have never been more important and we are committed to protect and serve the public conversation and support the authorities as they navigate this unprecedented moment," she adds.

Government and relevant stakeholders

Twitter has open lines of communication with the relevant authorities in the central and state governments and public health officials, to ensure they can troubleshoot account issues, and seek strategic counsel as they use the power of Twitter to mitigate harm and connect with the public at large.

The platform is working with the Ministry of Health & Family Welfare, various State Governments to upskill various departments on COVID response management. Twitter is also supporting and enabling the Government of Karnataka, Maharashtra, Jharkhand and Uttar Pradesh to set-up dedicated COVID-Response accounts.

Police accounts are being encouraged to use Twitter to address public queries and concerns related to the lockdown.

COVID-19 Search Prompt

Twitter is dedicated to ensuring people have uninterrupted and real-time access to the conversations that matter. To this end, Twitter offers a dedicated COVID-19 search prompt. When people come to the service to search for related COVID-19 conversation, the search prompt offers content from credible sources such as national health agencies and the World Health Organisation.

To make the search prompt as useful as possible, Twitter has partnered with local agencies in countries across the world. In India, the search prompt directs people to the official Ministry of Health and Family Welfare and WHO websites.

The feature is being constantly monitored by the Twitter team to ensure that all related keywords, including common misspellings, generate the proactive search prompt. 

Dedicated Bilingual Events Page 

Twitter has launched an events page dedicated to COVID-19 information. It is essentially a timeline of Tweets from verified Indian officials such as the Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Health Minister Dr Harsh Vardhan and other state and central ministers, as well as public health agencies.

Also Read: WHO roots for hygiene with Safe Hands Challenge

Launched in partnership with the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, this page is an attempt to share the latest facts from verified sources. Every account holder in India can see this page on the top of their home timeline. If someone has their settings set to Hindi, then they will see the same page with Hindi Tweets. The timeline also lets people track developments around the latest social distancing and healthcare information. 

Safe hands challenge and emoji

In partnership with the World Health Organisation, Twitter launched a #Handwashing emoji to create awareness around the importance of cleaning hands in the current time and emphasize the importance of 'washing hands frequently' to curb spreading of the virus. The same has been extended to vernacular hashtags.

Twitter’s Public Policy team is connected directly to the WHO team to offer advice on how best to use the service to connect their critical updates with the world. 

Fight against misinformation

Twitter is committed to working with the Government of India and focused on protecting the public conversation. The platform has expanded its safety rules and broadened the definition of harm to address content that goes directly against guidance from authoritative sources of global and local public health information. In addition to reports, Twitter will enforce this in close coordination with trusted partners, including public health authorities and governments, and continue to use and consult with information from those sources when reviewing content.