Facebook is bringing the hammer down on ads that aim to profit from the coronavirus epidemic currently ravaging the world – something the American authorities are saying has the capacity to become an epidemic of epic proportions. But some of us are using misinformation and fearmongering tactics to deceive people online.
Facebook is now looking to ban ads that talk about the virus from a cure or prevention point of view. Speaking to Business Insider, a Facebook representative said “We recently implemented a policy to prohibit ads that refer to the coronavirus and create a sense of urgency, like implying a limited supply, or guaranteeing a cure or prevention, we also have policies for surfaces like Marketplace that prohibit similar behaviour.”
The epic coronavirus began in Wuhan, China, and cases have been affirmed in the US, Europe, Asia, the Middle East and Australia. Over the past one week, the virus spread continued to rise with South Korea confirming that instances of COVID-19 spiked to more than 600, and WHO revealed 67 new cases in Italy which is scrambling to contain the virus at this time.
The spread of the infectious disease is additionally negatively affecting industries worldwide including the technology world which seen major stock losses, with organizations closing stores and workplaces, constraining travel and propping for interruptions to supply chains.
To tell you just how much it has disrupted tech, CES (the largest consumer electronics events in the world) schedules to hold in January in Las Vegas was cancelled, it drove Facebook to cancel a March summit in San Francisco that was supposed to bring together about 4,000 people from the tech and non-tech world. In Barcelona, the Mobile World Congress (MWC) that was supposed to hold this month as cancelled. The Olympics event in Tokyo is now being threatened as well the IOS has given Japanese authorities three months to come up with a plan to prevent an contain the disease.
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Paul Femi Balo is the founder and publisher of TechBooky. He covers artificial intelligence, African technology, digital infrastructure, enterprise technology and the global digital economy.
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