Google, the most trusted brand across the globe, has now intervened to curb the misleading information on COVID-19 (Coronavirus). This move is an exit for the company which has relied on automation to rank content throughout its 22 years of existence.
The questions about Coronavirus had disseminated around Google’s office on 28 February. The company had been condemned for YouTube’s handling of hoax videos as a result of which a major company conference was cancelled and at the same time an employee tested positive in Zurich.
As a result of this, Sunder Pichai, Chief Executive Officer, Google sent a memo reminding about Google’s essential role as a provider of timely and accurate content or information in uncertain times. “You’ve heard me talk about helpfulness in the context of moments big and small. This is one of those big moments,” Pichai wrote.
The Coronavirus has killed around 3,900 people out of 113,000 confirmed cases. In India 52 cases has been found positive according to the Union Health Ministry, 18 cases has been detected alone in Rajasthan. In Maharashtra, about 5 cases has been reported.
Online platforms have been filled with rumors and misleading information concerns about the pathogen as it spread west from Asia particularly in floods of messages on Twitter.
Pichai was overseeing a major overhaul even before the Coronavirus began to spread across the globe. The company approached health related information. Google has also hired health-care industry executives for a newly formed division that uses Google’s artificial intelligence to develop new revenue from this particular sector. The Coronavirus is certainly the first real test of this initiative.
