As the entire world is wrestling with the economic, social, health, and political impacts of COVID-19, it is also struggling to understand how both the open internet and online censorship have contributed to the containment or spread of the virus.
International health authorities and governments have developed best practices and policies for tracking and sharing detailed information about novel viruses as they emerge, aimed at containing their spread and limiting the impact on human populations.
However, government efforts to control information caused China to depart from existing international policy mandating information sharing during an emerging pandemic, making it more difficult to contain the virus early.
Social Media
Digital platforms and social media provide essential opportunities, besides official channels, to share accurate data information about emerging diseases. Through digital epidemiology, public health researchers can identify and track outbreaks as they occur.
Social media has also enabled public health experts to connect with each other and the general public to a remarkable degree during this crisis. These online platforms, however, have also contributed to and facilitated the spread of incorrect and misleading information about the coronavirus. While international governments and health authorities are working hard to combat it, they’re only struggling to keep up.
The current coronavirus outbreak has taught us important lessons about the negative impact of closed information regimes on efforts to contain and combat emerging pandemics, the importance of an open internet, and the dangers of mis- and disinformation.
We make the following policy recommendations for acting now and later to facilitate information sharing and fully leverage the power of the internet during emerging pandemics. A full list of recommendations can be found in the policy brief on page 14.
Recommendations for Governments
Congress, the State Department, and the World Health Organization should investigate and highlight the role of government censorship in allowing the COVID-19 virus to spread.
Governments and international organizations should increase efforts to promote a free and open internet.
The global public health community should join with open internet advocates to promote the free exchange of information online required to safeguard public health.
The US government and international authorities should provide direct support for digital epidemiology projects that actively monitor the internet and social media for emerging health threats.
Congress, in consultation with social media companies and epidemiologists, should develop a legal framework that allows the sharing of information between tech platforms and digital epidemiology projects.
The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and Food and Drug Administration (FDA) should continue work to identify false claims regarding coronavirus treatments and more actively promote their findings on social media.
The FDA and FTC should pursue enforcement actions against companies who advertise false coronavirus treatments.
Public health agencies, such as the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, should not only continue current efforts to combat misinformation on the coronavirus, but also evaluate their impact to develop best practices to do so during the next health emergency.
Public health agencies should establish permanent public-private partnerships between the global health community, government agencies, and social media and other tech companies to facilitate the rapid and effective sharing of accurate, verified information and public service announcements.
Recommendations for Companies
Tech companies should continue to promote and share accurate, verified information and public service announcements about the coronavirus.
Tech companies should continue to identify, label, and warn users about inaccurate information about the COVID-19 virus that has been hosted on their platforms.
Tech companies should develop standards for identifying the subset of false information that is so harmful that it should be removed during a public health crisis.
Tech companies should work with the government to develop and implement a legal framework for sharing and protecting user information with digital epidemiology projects that detect and track emerging health threats.