TikTok, one of the most prominent social media platforms on the planet, is looking to combat health misinformation in the app.
Now, they are partnering with the World Health Organization on an expanded fact-checking initiative to further limit misinformation.
In this process, TikTok will align its forces with the “Fides” group from WHO to boost its medical fact-checking capacity.
Fides is a network of over 800 healthcare professionals who are active on social media and their aim is to stop the health-related misinformation on the internet. They do this by presenting factual explainers and insights into key health topics that are being discussed in the apps.
This Fides group reaches millions of users across all social media platforms. With this initiative, TikTok will boost its reach to more and more users.
Here is what TikTok said about the partnership.
“Through this partnership, Fides network creators in the United States, United Kingdom, France, Japan, Korea, Indonesia, Mexico, and Brazil will be joining TikTok to create and promote evidence-based content. We are also making a $3M donation to support WHO’s global work in destigmatizing mental health conditions and creating an informed, empathetic, and supportive online community.”
The social media giant says that Fides creators will post explainers on health and scientific research. Along with this, they will communicate with users on the platform and provide expert insight into health topics.
This would be a good way to move away from harmful trends that keep popping up on various social media apps. TikTok is not immune to this, they have also seen many harmful health-related trends in the past. That is one of the reasons this partnership makes sense.
