As global and national health authorities are working to respond to the coronavirus, at Facebook we are working to connect people with information from Sri Lanka’s health organisations to limit the spread of misinformation and harmful content about the virus.

Connecting people to accurate information and local resources

The World Health Organization (WHO) recently characterized the coronavirus (COVID-19) as a pandemic. To help people in Sri Lanka to get accurate information about COVID-19, anyone who searches for information related to the virus on Facebook or Instagram is shown educational pop-ups on top of search results connecting them to expert health organizations including the WHO.

Fighting misinformation and harmful COVID-19 related content

We are also removing content with false claims or conspiracy theories that have been flagged by leading global health organizations and local health authorities that could cause harm to people who believe them. We are doing this as an extension of our existing policies to remove content that could cause physical harm. We’re focusing on claims that are designed to discourage treatment or taking appropriate precautions. This includes claims related to false cures or prevention methods —like eating onions cures the coronavirus — or claims that create confusion about health resources that are available. Claims like eating onions cures the coronavirus are false, so we are working to minimize the spread of false cures like it.

We will also block or restrict hashtags used to spread misinformation on Instagram, and are conducting proactive sweeps to find and remove as much of this content as we can.

Our global network of third-party fact-checkers, including those in Sri Lanka, are continuing their work to review content and debunk false claims that are spreading related to the coronavirus. When they rate information as false, we limit its spread on Facebook and Instagram and show people accurate information from these partners. We also send notifications to people who already shared or are trying to share this content to alert them that it’s been fact-checked.

Our Sri Lanka fact checking partner reports are available here for AFP - https://factcheck.afp.com/afp-sri-lanka. Our fact checking report for our other partner in Sri Lanka, Fact Crescendo, can be found here: https://srilanka.factcrescendo.com/archives/

You’ll be able to see in these reports about COVID-19 or false claims that have been debunked by our fact-checking partners in-country.

Empowering partners with data tools

We have also trained Sri Lanka’s Health Promotion Bureau on how to use social media for accurate and targeted health messaging and providing the bureau with further support in order to enable them to run coronavirus education campaigns on Facebook. We’ve also supported the Health Promotion Bureau to share information about the coronavirus in Sri Lanka’s three main languages.

As this global health information evolves, we are monitoring COVID-19 closely and will make necessary updates to our policies if we see people trying to exploit this public health emergency. For example, on March 6th, 2020 we announced that we would be temporarily banning advertisements and commerce listings, like those on Marketplace, that sell medical face masks. We already prohibit people from making health or medical claims related to the coronavirus in product listings on commerce surfaces, including those listings that guarantee a product will prevent someone from contracting it.

Empowering partners on health messaging

Given the developing situation, we're working with national ministries of health and organizations like the WHO, CDC Foundation and UNICEF to help them share timely, accurate information on the coronavirus. We're giving the WHO as many free ads as they need for their coronavirus response. We’ll also be working closely with global health experts and to provide additional help if needed.