Facebook has decided that it will remind users to wear protective masks using its broad reach. This change has been introduced after the steep spike in new coronavirus cases in United States.
Various methods of reminding users will include alerts at the top of their feeds on Facebook and Instagram. The company will start this new alert system in the United States and plans to expand in the future to other regions as well.
“With the rise in COVID-19 cases in the US, we’re putting an alert at the top of Facebook and Instagram to remind everyone to wear face coverings,” the company said in a statement.
The company will also provide additional prevention tips and links to public health agencies in its COVID-19 Information Center.
Twitter, on the other hand, is using a different approach to push users to wear masks. The company has had a long-standing demand from users for an ‘edit tweet’ button. The company has laid a simple condition for users to get that.
“You can have an edit button when everyone wears a mask,” said a tweet from the official Twitter account, which was shared some 93,000 times within an hour.
The call for masks in US holds a special significance as some parts of the country are divided on the need to wear them. A few Americans are even outright rejecting the face coverings as government intrusion.
US President Trump, who is yet to be seen wearing a face mask during the crisis, said this week he would have “no problem” doing so under certain circumstances.
“If I were in a tight situation with people, I would absolutely,” Trump said in an interview with Fox Business, as many US states reported a surge in the number of cases.
Heath experts expressed alarm last month when Trump held a rally in Tulsa, Oklahoma, without requiring attendees to wear masks. Eight members of his campaign staff working at that event tested positive for the virus.
With Inputs from Agencies
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