---
id: "coronavirus-smarter-crowdsourcing:strategies/Governments-should-track-rumors-and-misinformation"
type: "GovLab policy strategy"
title: "Governments should track rumors and misinformation campaigns to ensure that communities are not acting on…"
url: "https://coronavirus.smartercrowdsourcing.org/strategies/governments-should-track-rumors-and-misinformation"
summary: "Governments should track rumors and misinformation campaigns to ensure that communities are not acting on incorrect public health guidance."
source: "The GovLab (coronavirus.smartercrowdsourcing.org)"
licence: "Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/)"
---

# Governments should track rumors and misinformation campaigns to ensure that communities are not acting on…

Governments should track rumors and misinformation campaigns to ensure that communities are not acting on incorrect public health guidance.

- Timeframe: 1-3 Months (immediate)
- Audience: Academia
- Type: Data, Communications
- Recommendation: [Evidence and misinformation](https://coronavirus.smartercrowdsourcing.org/recommendations/evidence-and-misinformation)
- Part of: [Smarter Crowdsourcing in the Age of Coronavirus](https://coronavirus.smartercrowdsourcing.org/)

## Actions governments should take

1. [Create crowdsourced initiatives to spot and debunk misinformation and promote advertised channels where citizens can report misinformation or false information. This can be through a mobile app, hotline, SMS or WhatsAPP, or a website.](https://www.pnas.org/content/116/7/2521)
2. Conduct targeted outreach to specific communities or community leaders to understand rumors that may be proliferating in their communities.
3. [Create a rumor management and tracking tool.](https://covid19communicationnetwork.org/covid19resource/creating-a-real-time-rumor-management-system-technical-brief/)
4. Engage groups providing similar services to [Public Editor](https://www.publiceditor.io/) or [Politifact](https://www.politifact.com/) to help flag false information in the news, online, and coming from politicians.
5. [Promote evidenced-based sources, like Ask a Scientist, where people can seek independently verified and scientific information when they have questions about specific rumors.](https://covid19.fas.org/)
6. [Work with tech companies to flag false information on social media platforms, including twitter flags.](https://www.cnn.com/2020/10/11/tech/twitter-flags-donald-trump-tweet-coronavirus/index.html)
7. [Don’t “fan the flames” by elevating misinformation as you address it.](https://www.rockefellerfoundation.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/CovidTestingTracing_Handbook.pdf)
8. [Engage influencers, TV stations, radio stations or other trusted sources to advertise which rumors have been disproven.](https://www.thebodypro.com/article/covid-19-pandemic-turns-doctors-into-social-media-influencers)
9. [Track messages responding to rumors through the use of a engagement tool such as bit.ly](https://bit.ly/)
10. [Ensure officials are transparent and accountable to the public to increase credibility of official messaging](https://www.cdc.gov/eis/field-epi-manual/chapters/Communicating-Investigation.html)

## Examples from around the world

1. The UK government partnered with the WHO to create the “ [Stop the spread](https://www.who.int/news-room/feature-stories/detail/countering-misinformation-about-covid-19)” campaign which aims to raise awareness about misinformation. The campaign is being featured on BBC World News and BBC.com and the UK government is providing partner governments with a toolkit of the campaign assets for use in their countries. The UK government also set up [a rapid response](https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-52086284) team to crackdown on fake and misleading information circulating online on COVID-19 and has a [don’t feed the beast](https://sharechecklist.gov.uk/) campaign which provides 5 steps on how to identify fake news.