India leads anti-misinformation initiative at UN, pushes for fact-based content on COVID-19

India, along with 12 or countries, has led an initiative here aimed at spreading fact-based content to counter misinformation on coronavirus, with over 130 nations endorsing global call to fight "infodemic" relating to COVID19 pandemic.

On initiative by Australia, Chile, France, Georgia, India, Indonesia, Latvia, Leban, Mauritius, Mexico, rway, Senegal and South Africa, a total of 132 member states endorsed a cross-regional statement on "infodemic" or manipulated information.

UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres has said that apart from fighting deadly COVID-19 pandemic, world is also seeing a "dangerous outbreak" of misinformation about harmful health advice, hate speech and wild conspiracy ories and antidote to this pandemic of misinformation is fact-based news and analysis.

India's Permanent Mission to UN said that it supported UN Communications Response initiative '#VERIFIED' and "calls for global action to fight infodemic in times of COVID19.”

Last month, United Nations launched 'Verified', an initiative to combat growing scourge of COVID-19 misinformation by increasing volume and reach of trusted, accurate information.

13 nations co-authored cross-regional statement, which said that in times of COVID-19 health crisis, “ spread of ‘infodemic’ can be as dangerous to human health and security as pandemic itself. Among or negative consequences, COVID-19 has created conditions that enable spread of disinformation, fake news and doctored videos to foment violence and divide communities.”

“It is critical that states counter misinformation as a toxic driver of secondary impacts of pandemic that can heighten risk of conflict, violence, human rights violations and mass atrocities,” cross-regional statement said.

13 nations called on everybody to immediately cease spreading misinformation and to observe UN recommendations to tackle this issue.

" COVID-19 crisis has demonstrated crucial need for access to free, reliable, trustworthy, factual, multilingual, targeted, accurate, clear and science-based information, as well as for ensuring dialogue and participation of all stakeholders and affected communities during preparedness, readiness and response," y said.

nations said that y along with or many countries and international institutions, such as WHO and UNESCO, have worked towards increasing societal resilience against disinformation, which has improved overall preparedness to deal with and better comprehend both "infodemic" and COVID-19 pandemic.

"We are also concerned about dam caused by deliberate creation and circulation of false or manipulated information relating to pandemic," statement said.

"We call on countries to take steps to counter spread of such disinformation, in an objective manner and with due respect for citizens’ freedom of expression, as well as public order and safety. We reaffirm importance of ensuring that people are accurately informed from trustworthy sources and are t misled by disinformation about COVID-19," it said.

statement called for action by all Member States and stakeholders to fight "infodemic" to build what Secretary General has described a "healthier, more equitable, just and resilient world".

"We cant cede our virtual s to those who traffic in lies, fear and hate," Guterres had said anuncing initiative.

"Misinformation spreads online, in messaging apps and person to person. Its creators use savvy production and distribution methods. To counter it, scientists and institutions like United Nations need to reach people with accurate information y can trust," he said.

'Verified', led by UN Department for Global Communications (DGC), will provide information around three mes: science – to save lives; solidarity – to promote local and global cooperation; and solutions – to advocate for support to impacted populations. It will also promote recovery packs that tackle climate crisis and address root causes of poverty, inequality and hunger.

initiative is calling on people around world to sign up to become "information volunteers" to share trusted content to keep ir families and communities safe and connected.

Described as digital first responders, volunteers will receive a daily feed of verified content optimised for social sharing with simple, compelling messaging that eir directly counters misinformation or fills an information void.

"In many countries misinformation surging across digital channels is impeding public health response and stirring unrest. re are disturbing efforts to exploit crisis to advance nativism or to target mirity groups, which could worsen as strain on societies grows and ecomic and social fallout kicks in," UN Under-Secretary-General for Global Communications Melissa Fleming said.

" Verified initiative will also work to address this trend with hopeful content that celebrates local acts of humanity, contributions of refugees and migrants, and makes case for global cooperation," Fleming said.

initiative is a collaboration with Purpose, one of world's leading social mobilisation organisations.