United Nations campaign to combat misinformation

The United Nations will mark World Social Media Day 2020 on June 30th by launching a new campaign to tackle misinformation and fake news called “Pause – Take care before you share”.

The campaign’s pre-publicity emphasises the topical importance of addressing this issue:

“We are in a moment of global reckoning, from the pandemic sweeping across the globe to worldwide protests for racial justice to the climate emergency. Misinformation, hate speech and fake news is fuelling and distorting all of these challenges. It acts as a virus. It exploits our weaknesses. Our biases. Our prejudices. Our emotions.

“In response to this crisis, the United Nations aims to create a new social norm, ‘rules of the road’, for how people share content on social media. On ‘World Social Media’ day on 30th June, we want to reach billions with this new message.”

The campaign asks that everyone to do one or all of the following on June 30th 2020:

1. Take this simple instructive phrase ‘Pause. Take care before you share’ and bring it to
your audiences in a way that shows its importance to your concerns
2. Share stories, examples and testimonies of the impact of fake news and misinformation
on your work, using #takecarebeforeyoushare
3. Share content from the United Nations created for this day

How will you be marking World Social Media Day 2020? Let us know in the comments section below.