In the wake of the coronavirus pandemic, several social media platforms and apps have happily decided to promote only World Health Organization-approved narratives and news across the world. While social media platforms are doing so to evade "misinformation" on their platform, the director of BBC World Service Group, Jamie Angus, says that "credible" news sources (such as the BBC) should also be given extra visibility on social media.
Despite not being popular with consumers, social media platforms have artificially amplified mainstream media sources in recent months, to the detriment of independent creators.
"WhatsApp has allowed the WHO to publish trusted information directly into the WhatsApp environment. WhatsApp has declined to do that for the BBC and I think that's a mistake," said Angus.
"The global Covid pandemic is a once-in-a-generation challenge - the house is on fire and you want to open the fire hose to the maximum capacity in those circumstances, to saturate the environment out there with trusted and accurate news," Angus said.
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