(Bloomberg) -- As billionaire Elon Musk nears a potential deal to buy Twitter Inc., a World Health Organization official warned of the dangers of health and vaccine misinformation on social media.
Misinformation costs lives, Mike Ryan, executive director of the health emergencies program at the WHO, said Tuesday in response to a reporter's question regarding the offer from Musk, a self-described free-speech absolutist, to buy Twitter for about $44 billion.
“When anyone reaches a position in life where they have so much influence over the way information is shared with communities, they take on a huge responsibility,” Ryan said at the media briefing in Geneva. “We wish Mr. Musk luck with his endeavors to improve the quality of information we all receive.”
The WHO has worked with social media platforms during the pandemic to provide the latest and most accurate information regarding the pandemic and vaccines.
“In the case of this pandemic, good information is life-saving,” said Ryan. “Bad information sends you to some very bad places.”
Global Covid-related deaths were about 15,000 last week, officials said at the briefing, the lowest since March 2020. Still, they said, the pandemic is not over, and a reduction in testing is harming efforts to track and trace the virus and potential new variants.
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