Telegram launches new verification tools, new channel and more to tackle Covid-19

Telegram has launched a host of new features that are aimed at dispensing verified information about the coronavirus outbreak.

The popular messaging app in a blog post detailed the steps that it was taking to help its users distinguish fake news sources from the trustworthy ones. To make this happen, the company has launched a streamlined verification process as a part of which the company will verify the accounts of users on Telegram who already have a verified account on any other social media platform such as Facebook or Twitter.

The company in its blog post said that, all users who have a verified account on other social media platforms can contact its new Verify Bot to get a verification bot for their channel, group or bot.

In addition to this, the company has been sending notifications to all users in countries that have official channels with updates about the virus and the ways users can join those channels. The list of countries that have official channels on the platform include India, Israel, Kazakhstan, Malaysia, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, Spain, Ukraine and Uzbekistan.

"We invite all health ministers to collaborate on keeping people informed. If you work for your country's Ministry of Health and would like to promote its channel, please verify it first using corona@telegram.org," the blog noted.

Apart from this, Telegram has created a special channel called 'Corona Info' that shows up as the top result for all coronavirus-related keywords in Search. It contains a list of official news sources by country.

Lastly, the company has introduced masks stickers on its platform that can be used to raise awareness about the outbreak. "We couldn't do anything about the shortage of masks in the real world, but our artists found a way to squeeze an inexhaustible supply into your app...You can apply masks from this set to any pictures you are sending using Telegram's Photo Editor," Telegram added.