Mark Zuckerberg chats with Dr. Anthony Fauci. Photo: Mark Zuckerberg/Facebook In the month since the coronavirus pandemic began exploding across the U.S., Facebook has pledged to spend more than $200 million. Two weeks ago, the company said it would give away $100 million in grants to small businesses affected by the outbreak, and this morning it pledged another $100 million toward supporting the journalism industry, which is seeing ad rates fall at a precipitous rate.
What keeps Facebook stable is a constant flow of ad clients and a constant flow of user-generated content of all varieties — photo, text, video — and all levels of accuracy . These constants have buoyed Facebook, even as instability has hit other sectors. According to the New York Times, an internal report found that half of the news items that users are sharing are about the coronavirus. So Facebook’s announcement this morning seems designed for publications like the Tampa Bay Times, which also announced it was cutting its print production today. Facebook seems keenly aware of its role as a news source in this crisis, despite its prolonged attempt to not be one. A couple of weeks ago, Mark Zuckerberg himself interviewed Dr.
I am quarantine still, this virus. distance can save ones day.
It’s disrespecting Facebook
No more poking?
Good.