Amazon warns sellers against peddling fake coronavirus treatments

Amazon is removing off all the items from its platform that claim to cure or protect against coronavirus. The US e-commerce giant has notified its third-party merchants that it was removing listing of all the products claiming to treat coronavirus.

According to CNBC, Amazon was one of the tech giants that met with the World Health Organisation (WHO) at Facebook's Menlo Park last week, to discuss how to stop misinformation about the coronavirus.

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Several sellers on Amazon's website were selling fake products, making false claims that they can treat coronavirus. Hence, Amazon began monitoring mentions of the coronavirus in products listed on its marketplace. In fact, the e-tailer firm warned one of the sellers that it would delete its listing of surgical masks for making "unapproved medical marketing claim".

However, despite the warning to third-party sellers, fake and unauthorised products continued to be listed on Amazon, including disinfectant sprays and cleaners that had claimed to "kill" the coronavirus.

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Meanwhile, other IT firms like Google, Facebook have also been preventing coronavirus misinformation on their respective portals.

Social media giant, Twitter has created a dedicated search prompt to ensure the facts on the #coronavirus are credible once a person searches for information. Instagram users were also encouraged to go to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention website for credible facts on the virus.

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