Elon Musk has a “huge responsibility” to fight dangerous, potentially life-threatening misinformation on Twitter, the World Health Organization said Tuesday.
The United Nations health agency noted on Monday’s news that the tech billionaire has struck a deal to buy Twitter for $44 billion. WHO officials stressed how damaging misinformation and misinformation can be when it is widespread in digital spaces like Twitter.
“In cases like this pandemic, good information is life-saving,” said Mike Ryan, executive director of the WHO’s Health Emergencies Program. “In some cases, [it’s] more life-saving than having a vaccine in the sense that bad information sends you to some very, very bad places.”
Katherine O’Brien, director of WHO’s division of immunization, vaccines and biologics, reiterated the point. “This isn’t just a matter of chatter on social media channels,” O’Brien said. “It really impacts what people do, what they chose to do — what they chose to do for themselves, for their children, for their families. So it’s something that we take very seriously.”
information war
The WHO has long been fighting the spread of health disinformation and disinformation. In 2019, before the devastating pandemic, the agency listed vaccine hesitancy — primarily caused by health disinformation and disinformation — as one of the top 10 threats to people’s health. Amid the pandemic, WHO has stepped up its efforts to bust myths and fight misinformation about COVID-19. It has described this era as suffering an “infodemic,” which it defines as “a tsunami of information,” including false and misleading information, that sows mistrust, confusion and risk-taking that ultimately harms health and prolongs disease outbreaks. or intensifies.
“New technologies have enabled us to disseminate knowledge and evidence widely across [COVID-19]” wrote the WHO in December 2020. “However, social media platforms are also the carriers of falsehoods and distortions.”
A U.S.-based poll by the Kaiser Family Foundation in November 2021 found that 78 percent of U.S. adults said they either believed or weren’t sure about at least one of eight falsehoods about the pandemic or COVID-19 vaccines. And a January 2021 KFF survey found that people who got their vaccine information from social media were more likely to be hesitant or opposed to vaccination. Specifically, 37 to 40 percent of adults who were hesitant or said against getting a COVID-19 vaccine said they got their vaccine information from social media. By comparison, only 25 percent of adults who were excited had received vaccine information from social media. In that study, Facebook was the most influential social media platform.
Twitter has struggled to fight health misinformation during the pandemic and has been slow to update policies. A report in May 2020 concluded that the platform failed to rule over “super-spreaders” of health disinformation.
The Future of Twitter
Twitter and other social media companies have tried to fine-tune their policies during the pandemic. Some are working with the WHO and other health authorities to curb misinformation. “Many of the current platforms have been working very, very closely with WHO…to try to improve the quality of the information that is out there,” Ryan noted at the press conference on Tuesday.
It’s unclear whether Musk would consider partnering with the WHO or other health authorities as he takes control on Twitter. Musk has made controversial comments about COVID-19, vaccines and health measures during the pandemic. That includes tweeting in March 2020 that “the coronavirus panic is stupid“and the lie that children are”essentially immuneto COVID-19. However, he has since tweeted its support for vaccines and stated publicly that he and his children have been vaccinated.
Buying Twitter, Musk’s stated goal of protecting “free speech” and his definition of what that is, many Twitter users fear he will open the floodgates of all kinds of health misinformation, among other things. Still, the WHO seems to be hoping for the best as it warns of the worst-case scenario.
“When someone reaches a position in life where they have so much potential influence on how information is shared with communities, they take on a huge responsibility,” Ryan said. “We wish Mr. Musk every success in his efforts to improve the quality of the information we all receive.”
