When Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro shared videos in which he touted the effectiveness of anti-malaria drug hydroxychloroquine for treating the coronavirus and encouraged people to stop social distancing, Facebook and Twitter removed them from their platforms.
If you search for coronavirus on Pinterest, you’re directed to a page filled with curated information from the World Health organization, and Google is also directing searches about the pandemic to authoritative health sources.
The coronavirus has caused just about every major social and technology platform to take unprecedented steps to remove false or misleading information about the pandemic. Mark Zuckerburg said “it’s easier to set policies that are a little more black and white and take a much harder line,” when it comes to a pandemic.
As a result, COVID-19 is the first global example of what a hard line platform response to disinformation might look like. It also shows that companies have the capacity to move quickly on a focused topic, even if it means removing content from previously-untouchable world leaders, and at times making mistakes.
This moment also reinforces the fact that a wide range of trolls, grifters, white nationalists, and others — including powerful political figures — have long been sources of false or misleading information, and that they exploited these platforms to build a massive audience.
“I’m glad that the coronavirus has given social networks a spine when it comes to enforcing against high-profile trolls who might yell at them, and I hope it generates some self-reflection about how these people got such big platforms in the first place,” tweeted New York Times tech columnist Kevin Roose.
Will the coronavirus crackdown establish a new normal for how platforms approach false and misleading content? The answer is clear: almost certainly not.
Facebook and others treat free speech and political disagreement differently from false health information that could harm people. And they may always do so, unless legislated to do otherwise. We should also be wary of encouraging these companies to unleash their full censorship powers.
But one thing we know is that things are never exactly as they were after massive events like wars and pandemics. The changes can be profound or minor, but change is guaranteed.
One likely change is that failures of the platforms to rein in conspiracies and harmful claims in the future will elicit stronger criticism now that we’ve seen what they can do. Governments and advocates from all corners will also increase their pressure for platforms to step up enforcement and takedowns.
As with social distancing measures, the platform’s coronavirus crackdown will end — but what comes after won’t exactly be the same.
—Craig
