Virus content against govt guidelines to be removed: Facebook.

Byline: Ramsha Jahangir

KARACHI -- Facebook will remove any content pertaining to the novel coronavirus which is against the guidelines issued by the government and the World Health Organisation (WHO).

In a press briefing on Wednesday, Facebook's Public Policy Manager for Pakistan Sarim Aziz said that anything that went against the WHO recommendations and contravened the guidelines issued by the federal and provincial governments would be removed from Facebook's platforms for violation of its policy.

'In Pakistan, we are working with the Ministry of National Health Services, Regulations and Coordination (NHSRC) and provincial governments, as well as world organisations such as WHO and Unicef to provide accurate information about Covid-19,' he said.

The Facebook official added that the social media platform had established a dedicated channel for the federal and provincial governments so they could share listings which they believed violated local laws.

According to the Pakistan TelecommuniAcation Authority (PTA), so far 42 items related to Covid-19 have been reported to Facebook by Pakistan.

Pakistan reports 42 virus-related posts to social media platform

Mr Aziz shared that teams were monitoring the Covid-19 situation closely and would make necessary updates to the company's policies if they saw people trying to exploit this public health emergency.

Facebook said it would also start removing content with false claims or conspiracy theories that had been flagged by leading global health organisations and local health authorities that could cause harm to people who believed them. 'We are doing this as an extension of our existing policies to remove content that could cause physical harm,' said Mr Aziz.

Moderation of Covid-19 content

Detailing how the company was applying its community standards around Covid-19, the Facebook official said the platform would remove content for coordinating harm, hate speech and bullying and harassment.

Content that encourages the further spread of Covid-19 would be removed under coordinating harm. For example, a post encouraging people to go to mosques when the federal or provincial government has advised otherwise will be removed by the platform for violation.

Posts that claim a protected characteristic has, is spreading, or is responsible for the existence of Covid-19 or which mocks a protected characteristic for having Covid-19 would be removed for hate speech. This applies to racism and communalism.

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