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Facebook, Twitter want Russian coronavirus disinformation details | Vox

State Department officials are claiming that disinformation related to the coronavirus — including some pushed by Russia — is rampant across popular social media platforms. But the government seems cagey about reporting the details to the companies involved.

According to accounts from several social media platforms, the State Department has been reluctant to share evidence of disinformation, making it difficult for Americans to know what to look out for. As the novel coronavirus outbreak has grown in recent weeks, the State Department has informed the press of conspiracy theories about the outbreak that are being spread on social media platforms such as Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram. Many of the accounts spreading these theories appear to be from Russia, the State Department says.

But social media companies like Facebook and Twitter initially struggled to get copies of the government’s reports on the matter, even after they were publicly discussed in the press. The companies now have that information, but Facebook is asking the government for more evidence supporting its claims. Meanwhile, Twitter says it hasn’t found any significant evidence of coordinated efforts to spread misinformation related to the coronavirus on its site, such as Russian disinformation.

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Source: Facebook, Twitter want Russian coronavirus disinformation details – Vox