As many people are sitting at home they are sitting on their phones scrolling through social media. Don’t worry, I am too, but while scrolling through Facebook there are so many “news” updates about the Coronavirus. In reality, though, people are interacting with bogus cures, hoaxes and many other false claims about the virus. 

Due to this false information rapidly growing, Facebook is going to start alerting people when they interact with a post filled with dangerous and false information about the Coronavirus. People being exposed to this type of false content are being misinformed about a very serious topic, so it is important that Facebook is taking this precaution. Before this, Facebook was only warning people about what they interacted with when they shared the post and it had already been labeled as false by fact-checkers. 

A global advocacy group called Avaaz has released a study saying that millions of users have been exposed to misinformation about the Coronavirus on Facebook alone. There are conspiracy theories on Facebook that the Coronavirus was created by the World Health Organization and the Gates Foundation. There have been posts that claim that oregano oil and garlic cure the virus. There have even been such dangerous posts that have recommended drinking chlorine dioxide and industrial bleach in order to destroy the virus. Posts like this leave not only adults in danger, but especially small children. 

Fake news is always going to be around, but it is important that people are able to determine what news is real and what is fake. Facebook adding this new feature allows people to be able to be notified when interacting with a post filled with false information about the virus. Facebook has even begun removing as much of the fake news about the virus as they can in order to begin reducing the number of people that come across such a post. Being properly informed about this pandemic is very important.