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Pause before sharing

The United Nations calls on social media users to “Pause. Take care before you share” on the occasion of World Social Media Day 30th June.

In response to the COVID-19 crisis the United Nations aims to create a new social norm, ‘rules of the road’, for how people share content on social media.

On ‘World Social Media’ Day on 30th June the UN hopes to reach billions with this new message: “Pause. Take care before you share. “

The Pause Movement is part of the Verified Campaign, a United Nations initiative, in collaboration with Purpose, to provide content that cuts through the noise to deliver life-saving information, fact-based advice and stories from the best of humanity.

We are in a moment of global reckoning with the pandemic sweeping across the globe, worldwide protests for racial justice and the climate emergency.

Misinformation, hate speech and fake news is fueling and distorting all of these challenges.

It acts as a virus.

It exploits our weaknesses. Our biases. Our prejudices. Our emotions.

Often we share on impulse. Before verifying content. Before letting the endorphins subside.

Research shows that a significant way to reduce misinformation is by creating a culture of pausing, even for a few seconds, to reflect on the content before one shares it.

The hope of the UN is to create a global moment that will encourage us all to fight misinformation around COVID-19 by pausing before we share content and stories with our loved ones, friends and colleagues.

By promoting and sharing Verified content, everyday people can play a crucial role in the work of Verified by spreading reliable information about COVID-19 to their friends, families and social networks, with the goal of saving lives and countering misinformation.

Thousands of people worldwide have already joined the Verified Campaign as “Information Volunteers”.  Please join and get a daily Verified briefing and share life-saving information with your networks.

 

For further information see here:

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