Facebook reached 800,000 in 5-week campaign

SOCIAL media platform Facebook reached an estimated 800,000 people living in Papua New Guinea with resources on how to identify and combat health-related misinformation in a five-week campaign.
Following the success of the campaign, Facebook will begin re-running the Fight Coronavirus (Covid-19) misinformation campaign in Tok Pisin and English in PNG this week.
The figures released on Monday highlighted ongoing measures Facebook was taking to reduce the spread of the Covid-19 misinformation by directing people on how to spot misinformation and prevent sharing it.
“Many countries across the region, including PNG, face ongoing public health and economic challenges brought about by the pandemic, we want to make sure people in PNG know how to spot misinformation and access credible information on the Covid-19 and the vaccine,” head of public policy for New Zealand and Pacific Islands Nick McDonnell said.
“Following the success of the first education campaign and the increased roll-out of the Covid-19 vaccine, we want to ensure people in PNG have available official public health resources and make informed decisions about the information they see on Facebook.
“This is in addition to the Covid-19 information centre – the dedicated place on Facebook where we promote the PNG Government’s and international health information.
“We will continue to work with our partners to help connect people with reliable information.”
The fight Covid-19 misinformation campaign was created in consultation with the World Health Organisation and run in eight Pacific Islands countries and territories in 2021.