COVID-19 Alert

Friend,

Hate and disinformation about COVID-19 are worsening the global pandemic — and much of this content is surfacing online.

In the last couple weeks, we’ve been asking you to reach out to the FCC to do its part in shutting down disinformation around this crisis. But now, we need to expand our efforts and immediately tell Facebook, Twitter and YouTube to save lives by doing everything they can to shut down disinformation now.

As the COVID-19 outbreak began to spread across the United States, xenophobic and anti-Asian sentiment spread rapidly on social media.¹ And while Fox News, right-wing radio personalities and Donald Trump downplayed the seriousness of the public-health threat — often encouraging people to continue going out and gathering in groups — companies like Facebook and Twitter were growing hotspots for coronavirus opportunists to amplify their dangerously misleading lies.

Here’s how it’s happening:

President Trump spent weeks downplaying the virus on Twitter before belatedly addressing the pandemic, which he still insists on calling the “Chinese virus.”²

Meanwhile, conspiracy theorists have taken to Facebook and Twitter to spread these same racist and false messages claiming the virus is a form of biological warfare sent from China.³ Now, anti-Asian attacks are on the rise⁴ and right-wing media are stoking racism by warning people about resettling refugees in local communities.⁵

The Southern Poverty Law Center is even reporting that white supremacists view the upheaval coronavirus is creating as a recruiting opportunity.⁶ Violent white nationalists are talking of “weaponizing” the virus using spray bottles.⁷ And conspiracy theories spread early on that Black people and Yemenite Jews could not contract coronavirus or would recover quickly if they did.⁸

Enough is enough. Please take action now to demand that Facebook, Twitter and YouTube stop hate and disinformation on COVID-19.

We need safe, accurate information to stop the pandemic. And these companies need to invest deeply in the resources it will take to stop the hate and disinformation.

Thanks for taking action today and for all that you do.

Candace, Heather and the rest of the Free Press team
freepress.net

P.S. In the midst of the pandemic, companies like Facebook, Twitter and YouTube are even more front and center in our lives. With millions of people stuck at home or glued to their devices seeking up-to-date, truthful information about how to keep themselves, their families and their communities safe, it is urgent that these companies crack down on the disinformation and hate spreading across their platforms. Please add your name now.

1. “How COVID-19 Coronavirus Is Uncovering Anti-Asian Racism,” Forbes, Feb. 18, 2020

2. “Trump Spent Weeks Downplaying the Virus. He’s Now Pretending That Never Happened,” March 18, 2020

3. “Fact Check: Did the Coronavirus Originate in a Chinese Laboratory?” USA Today, March 21, 2020

4. “Asian Americans Report Rise in Racist Attacks Amid Pandemic,” PBS NewsHour, April 1, 2020

5. “Anti-Asian Bigotry and Anti-Immigrant Policies Take Center Stage in Right-Wing’s Coronavirus Coverage,” Media Matters for America, March 18, 2020

6. “White Supremacists See Coronavirus as an Opportunity,” Southern Poverty Law Center, March 26, 2020

7. “White Supremacists Had Plans to Weaponize Coronavirus. Even Amid a Global Pandemic, They Choose Hate,” The Root, March 22, 2020

8. “Coronavirus Conspiracy Theories Are a Public Health Hazard,” Wired, March 27, 2020