Twitter launches Covid-19 news live tracker

Twitter has launched an Event page feature to surface real-time credible and official information about Covid-19 from authoritative government agencies, public officials, civil society, and media. Located at the top of the home timeline on mobiles and under the #Explore tab on desktop, it is now available in Philippines and other Asia Pacific countries (Australia, India, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, Singapore, South Korea, Thailand).

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Protecting the Conversation

With a critical mass of expert organizations, official government accounts, health professionals, and epidemiologists present on the platform, the page aims to put expert and official information at the forefront.

Twitter is also continuing its zero-tolerance approach to platform manipulation and any other attempts to abuse the service at this critical juncture. It has expanded its safety rules to include content that could place people at a higher risk of transmitting Covid-19, now requiring people to remove Tweets that include misleading content which increases the chance that someone contracts or transmits the virus due to misinformation.

Additionally, it has been working with amplifying the voice of global public health authorities to identify experts and have already verified hundreds of accounts as of date.

Global Expansion of the Covid-19 Search Prompt

Launched six days before the official designation of the virus in January, Twitter’s dedicated search prompt ensures that when you search for Covid-19 information, you see credible, authoritative content at the top of your search. Twitter is consistently monitoring the conversation to make sure keywords — including common misspellings — also generate the search prompt.

In the Philippines, Twitter has partnered with the Department of Health (@DOHgovph) and WHO Philippines (@WHOPhilippines) for a dedicated search prompt wherein users searching information about the #coronavirus on the platform will be notified and pointed to DOH’s website and WHO Philippines’ Twitter account.

Twitter’s Covid-19 Search Prompt is available in 66 areas and 27 languages so far and continues to expand as we grow our partnerships with over 60 government agencies around the world as the need arises.

Additional Protections

The platform is also halting advertisers who opportunistically use the Covid-19 outbreak to launch inappropriate ads. Government entities that want to disseminate public health information will be permitted to promote ads on Covid-19.

In the case of Covid-19, additional safeguards have been put in place in order to facilitate the sharing of trusted public health information and to reduce potential harm to users. Interestingly, it is also currently prohibiting the promotion of all medical masks due to strong correlation to Covid-19 and instances of inflated prices globally.

Want to join the conversation?

Follow WHO Philippines (@WHOPhilippines) and the Department of Health (@DOHgovph) — seek out authoritative health information and ignore the noise. If you see something suspicious or abusive, report it immediately. Most importantly, think before you Tweet. Through Twitter Moments, longer-form content has been curated that helps tell the full story of what’s happening around Covid-19 globally. For educators and parents, consult Twitter’s media literacy guide, which was built in partnership with UNESCO (@UNESCO), here.