Madhurima
MENLO PARK: As the rising coronavirus cases are sending the world into a frenzy, WhatsApp has taken an initiative to launch a chatbot for WHO in order to lessen the tension and panic amongst the people during the time where misinformation is also being spread. A WHO Health Alert has also been launched by the messaging app so that people are alerted with the news which is most recent and official regarding COVID-19.
The company had beforehand announced about releasing a new pandemic verification platform and work on it with the WHO (World Health Organisation), UNICEF (United Nations Children's Fund) and UNDP (United Nations Development Programme). The aim of launching the chatbot was to spread information about the latest developments and answer frequently asked questions by the people. The multi-million dollar app also donated $1 Million to support this initiative.
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WHO picked the platform of WhatsApp as it has over 1.5 billion users all over the world. People can attain information and pass it on to friends and family within seconds. The end-to-end encryption feature which is available in the app ensures that a huge number of individuals can get information from this platform securely, meaning no other apps can access the messages that are being exchanged.
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Apart from this, the app is also working on a new feature that can stop misinformation from being spread by quickly coming through the web with a particular text or video circulating in the app.
