Stating that falsehoods are filling the air around us, UN Secretary General Antonio Gueterres has called for rejecting the lies and nonsense.
In a video message, the UN Chief said that a “global ‘misinfo-demic’ was spreading”. He mentioned that harmful health advices filled the web media. “Wild conspiracy theories are infecting the Internet. Hatred is going viral, stigmatizing and vilifying people and groups,” he said.
Gueterres urged the social media companies to root out hate and harmful assertions about coronavirus. He urged to have trust in institutions that were responsive and responsible. The UN Chief also emphasised in trusting each other. He pointed out that falseness could be defeated together.
As a means of bringing in facts and truth, Gueterres also announced a new UN Communications Response initiative.
Meanwhile UNESCO Director for Policies and Strategies Guy Berger said that they have already warned of misinformation spreading even before the pandemic. Berger said that from the origin of coronavirus to the unproven cures and prevention methods, a lot of misinformation was already aired in the public.
The UN chief also mentioned that the world was going through a major crisis since the Second World War.
