The world’s largest social media company, Facebook, disclosed the expansion of its Coronavirus Information Center to 17 countries in sub-Saharan Africa. The tech company made known that this contribution is part of its efforts to curtail the spread of COVID-19 across Africa.
Facebook’s African Head of Public Policy, Kojo Boakye commented on the expansion of the information center on Thursday, April 9, 2020. Boakye stated: “we’ve built the information centers, in collaboration with national health partners, to ensure that people can get access to information from trusted health sources.”
According to Boakye, Facebook users will get real-time updates from national health authorities and global organizations such as the World Health Organization (WHO). Facebook will also provide helpful articles, videos, and posts about social distancing and preventing the spread of COVID-19.
The COVID-19 information center will be featured at the top of Facebook’s News Feed. Users across 17 African countries will choose to get notifications for updates from official government health authorities. Boakye unveiled that the center “aligns with our commitment to making accurate, timely information about the pandemic accessible to all communities,” in Africa.
African countries selected to have the COVID-19 Information Centres include Nigeria, Benin, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Cape Verde, Chad, Côte d’Ivoire, Ethiopia, Gabon, Guinea, Kenya, Mali, Mauritania, Senegal, Seychelles, The Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), and, Togo.
As of 2018, there were 138 million Facebook users across the African continent. With the most recent COVID-19 support by Facebook to sub-Saharan African countries, the continent will be able to differentiate fake news from real information on coronavirus-related matters. By so doing, harmful content that causes panic and anxiety will not be disseminated for public consumption.
In addition, other approaches used by Facebook to prevent the circulation of fake information on COVID-19 include the prohibition of exploitative advertisements for counterfeit medical face masks, hand sanitizers, disinfecting wipes and COVID-19 test kits. A similar social media platform owned by Facebook, WhatsApp, has also reduced the number of contacts that can receive forwarded messages simultaneously. This was intended to shield users from unauthentic and false information on COVID-19 that would lead to widespread apprehension.
Facebook is constantly contributing new features like enabling global health organizations with free ads, empowering users with data and tools, and engaging fact-checkers to combat COVID-19 globally. With the expansion of these new tools into Africa, Facebook will be helping millions of people get reliable information and local customized alerts on the coronavirus pandemic, thereby reducing its impact.
