The World Health Organization took advantage of Elon Musk's takeover of Twitter to send him a little message on Tuesday.
“Good management of social networks is extremely important” in the face of the damage caused by the infodemic, said a senior WHO official.
"It's not up to the WHO to say who owns or runs these platforms," said emergency manager Dr. Michael Ryan when asked about the man's takeover of Twitter. richest in the world.
“But when someone finds themselves in the position (…) of having so much potential influence over the way information is shared (…), they take on a huge responsibility and we wish Mr. Musk good luck in its quest to improve the information we all receive".
Elon Musk, who bought the platform for 41.2 billion euros on Monday, promised more freedom on Twitter, arousing fears that the social network will throw away the means implemented to try to limit the most content. toxic.
Read alsoTwitter takeover: why Elon Musk broke the bank
However, the WHO is working with social networks to combat what the UN organization has dubbed "the infodemic", namely the epidemic of misinformation or disinformation on a large number of subjects that concern it, starting with the Covid-19 pandemic.
"People are dying because of misinformation or bad information intentionally disseminated," warned Dr. Kate O'Brien, WHO vaccine manager.
"It's not just a question of chatting on a social network, it has an impact on what people do, on what they decide to do for themselves, for their children, for their family," said underlined Doctor O'Brien, who had to fight to convince that the anti-Covid vaccines were safe and saved lives.
"Freedom of expression is the bedrock of a functioning democracy, and Twitter is the digital public square where vital topics for the future of humanity are debated," said Elon Musk, quoted Monday in the press release. Twitter announcing its takeover.
He acknowledged, however, that there were limits imposed by law.
