Twitter has launched #coronavirus to help track down the spread of the virus that originated from Wuhan in China and has killed 132 people so far.
“As the global conversation continues around the spread of the novel #coronavirus, we want to share the work we’re doing to surface the right information, to promote constructive engagement, and to highlight credible information on this emerging issue. We’ve seen over 15 million Tweets on this topic in the past four weeks and that trend looks set to continue,” Twitter said in a statement.
“At present, we’re not seeing significant coordinated attempts to spread disinformation at scale about this issue. However, we will remain vigilant and have invested significantly in our proactive abilities to ensure trends, search and other common areas of the service are protected from malicious behaviors. As ever, those who engage in these practices will be removed from our service. We do not permit the #coronavirus, you’re met with credible, authoritative information first.
“In addition, we're halting any auto-suggest results that are likely to direct individuals to non-credible content on Twitter. This is an expansion of our #KnowTheFacts prompt, which we specifically put in place for the public to find clear, credible information on immunization and vaccination health. When people search for information about coronavirus on Twitter in both English and Tagalog, the notification will appear in Tagalog.
“Our official #coronavirus partnerships are now in place in Australia, Brazil, Canada, Hong Kong, Japan, Malaysia, New Zealand, the Philippines, Singapore, South Korea, Taiwan, Thailand, the US and and Vietnam. We will continue to expand as the need arises.
“In the Philippines, we partnered with the Department of Health, as well as the World Health Organization regional offices covering the Philippines and the Western Pacific Region. The notification points people to the Department of Health’s dedicated website on coronavirus.
“Finally, our Global Public Policy team is proactively seeking ways to integrate the product with organizations involved in the effort to contain the threat. Experts, NGOs and governments play a pivotal public service role, using Twitter to reach people with the right information when they need it. We’re committed to playing our part to amplify authoritative, official content across the globe.
“For more information, please follow @TwitterGov and @Policy, where we will provide updates as appropriate.”
