In April, Bhaskar Chakravorti, the Dean of Global Business at The Fletcher School at Tufts University, wrote in The Indian Express of the need to flatten the curve of the “infodemic”.
It is about time, he wrote, Mark Zuckerberg (Facebook/WhatsApp), Sundar Pichai (Google/YouTube), Jack Dorsey (Twitter) and Zhang Yiming (TikTok) stepped up and helped us all practise social media distancing by enforcing stricter standards.
“For the American social media companies, this could be their moment of redemption after years of being pilloried as “surveillance capitalists” and a menace to society, but they have a narrow window to get it right.…
“If ever there was a time to demonstrate vision and leadership, this is the time for the digital leaders to flatten the curve of the infodemic before it flattens the most vulnerable populations on the planet.”
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In today’s New York Times, over 100 doctors, nurses and health experts have signed a petition more or less expressing the same sentiment, for a more responsible role from social media platforms.
IJR 