The daylong meeting, which WHO organized, involved leaders from major technology and social media companies such as Amazon, Google, Salesforce, Twitter and YouTube.
While many of the companies in attendance are competitors, leaders each shared the strategies they are using to combat the spread of misinformation regarding COVID-19. In return, each company agreed not to make these efforts public.
“The purpose of that was to plant seeds of ideas, and it worked well,” Andy Pattison, WHO’s digital business solutions manager, who attended the meeting, told CNBC. “I encouraged collaboration and innovation. During a crisis, it’s a good time for that.”
By the end of the meeting, leaders outlined several collaborative measures they will take to promote the spread of accurate information on the outbreak, which has sickened more than 64,000 people globally as of Feb. 14.
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