Facebook will start to add reminders to encourage people to wear face masks at the top of users’ News Feed, and also on Instagram’s feed. The company says that the move is due to the increase in COVID-19 cases in the US.
It was reported that the U.S. recently set a single-day record, adding 50,000 new cases. The country set a new daily case record for the sixth time in nine days. Currently, the U.S. had 2,992,350 confirmed cases—and has the most people infected out of any other country in the world.
Facebook has struggled to contain misinformation about the virus on its platforms during the pandemic. The company has added new features to try and stop misinformation, including a feature that will let you know when news articles they are about to share are more than 90 days old.
For the new feature, an alert will appear at the top of feeds on Facebook and Instagram that directs users to the COVID-19 Information Center. They will also have links to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) for more information.
The CDC in the U.S. recommends people to wear cloth masks in public spaces to protect others from possible infection. The masks reduce the transmission of respiratory droplets that may spread the virus, and surgical masks are in critical supply that are only reserved for healthcare workers and other medical first responders in the country.
The reminders are said to already be on feeds in the U.S. As for other countries like Malaysia, there doesn’t seem to be anything new yet when I checked on my own feeds. However, it might still be rolling out soon, as a general reminder for everyone to keep protecting yourselves during the pandemic.
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