United Nations Development Programme: false epidemic information harms the endless international community must work together to respond
Xinhua News Agency, United Nations, June 10 (Reporter Wang Jiangang) The United Nations Development Program pointed out on the 10th that the current false and inflammatory and misleading information about the new corona virus is increasing, which has aggravated the impact of the new coronavirus on society. Governments and The international community must work together to deal with it.
According to a press release issued by the United Nations Development Program, governments and people standing together and building mutual trust can alleviate the serious threats caused by misinformation, thereby reducing the loss of more lives and livelihoods. To this end, the United Nations Development Programme is working closely with agencies, media and people from various countries to curb the spread of false and untrue information, and supports the use of social media and websites to disseminate accurate information about the new crown virus.
The United Nations Development Program said that the recommendations for the new coronavirus continue to change with the deepening of medical cognition, and the public urgently needs all kinds of relevant information. However, social media, informal news sources, and fringe news media often sow the seeds of fear, stigmatization, discrimination, and confusion.
UNDP Administrator Steiner explained: "Various false treatments, scapegoating, conspiracy theories and fake news flood the general media and online platforms, leading to a chaotic information environment. This environment not only undermines public health measures. Effectiveness also leads to violence, discrimination, confusion and fear in real life. It can be said that this is a long-term social hazard."
Steiner said that the lessons of HIV and Ebola tell us that the international community must unite to resist misinformation and stigmatization. In this regard, real progress can only be achieved if governments of all countries assume leadership responsibilities.
The United Nations Development Program cited the research results of the Bruno Kessler Foundation, saying that after analyzing 112 million pieces of information on social media platforms related to the new coronavirus, the researchers found that 40% of the posts were from unreliable sources, compared with 178 million. Among the multiple tweets related to the new coronavirus, nearly 42% were posted by robots.
The United Nations recently issued a "verification" action initiative, aimed at curbing the increasing risk of misinformation of the new crest virus by increasing the amount and coverage of credible and accurate information, promoting the dissemination of accurate content through this action, and working with social media platforms, Eliminate hatred and harmful speech associated with the new coronavirus.