Snapchat rolling out mental health awareness tool soon with focus on coronavirus pandemic

Snapchat back in February announced that it was planning to launch a new tool to help disseminate custom around mental health and wellness. The tool called 'Here For You', which was expected to be rolled out in a few months, was set to give information about topics such as anxiety, depression, stress, grief, suicidal thoughts, and bullying to Snapchatters. Now, word is that the company is planning to accelerate the launch of the feature with additional focus on disseminating information on the ongoing coronavirus outbreak.

According to a report by The Verge, Snap Inc has accelerated the launch of the tool with special focus on the ongoing coronavirus outbreak. The company has added a coronavirus specific section to the tool that will curate information from sources such as the World Health Organization (WHO), the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), the Crisis Text Line support network, the Ad Council and the National Health Service (NHS) and other organisations that are creating original content around the recent outbreak.

The Here For You tool was earlier slated to be released in April next year. The company will now roll it out to the users next week.

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As per a separate report by Axios, Snapchat is also planning to launch a tool that will enable its users to share factual information about the ongoing pandemic. It is also working with the WHO to develop custom content that answers its users' questions about the outbreak. In addition to that, the company is working with over 40 media partners from across the globe to highlight authentic and verified information about the ongoing pandemic.