Bill Gates: Spread of 'outrageous' coronavirus video shows flaw in social media platforms

A video that made false claims about the coronavirus received tens of millions of views and amplification from President Donald Trump when it went viral on Monday — until Facebook and Twitter removed it from their platforms.

The incident illustrates a flaw in how social media companies police misinformation, tech mogul and philanthropist Bill Gates told Yahoo Finance Editor-in-Chief Andy Serwer on Tuesday.

Gates, a top backer of global public health initiatives and co-founder of Microsoft (MSFT), said that the spread of the “outrageous” video illustrates the way social media platforms struggle to contain damaging misinformation on social media platforms before it gains wide attention, adding that they “probably should have improved” how they monitor such posts to prevent outcomes like the one that occurred on Monday.

The video “spread so fast that even though, eventually, the social media people stopped it,” he says. “It was so famous that now people are still seeking it out.”

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/bill-gates-spread-of-outrageous-coronavirus-video-shows-flaw-in-social-media-platforms-124710983.html