Facebook and Instagram are now reminding everyone to wear a face mask

By Joe Wituschek
published

Facebook Instagram Face Masks
Facebook Instagram Face Masks (Image credit: The Verge)

What you need to know

  • Facebook and Instagram are adding in-app banners to encourage face masks.
  • Users will begin to see the banners in each app starting today.
  • The company is adding them in response to the rise in COVID-19 cases.

In an effort to encourage safe practices during the pandemic, Facebook and Instagram are adding in-app banners to encourage everyone to wear a face mask.

Reported by The Verge, the company announced the addition of the banners to their respective apps on Thursday. Each banner will be placed at the top of the app's main feed and include a link to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention for more information.

The banners will read as below:

Facebook

Wear a Cloth Face Covering to Help Prevent the Spread of COVID-19 When in public, cover your mouth and nose with a cloth face covering. Learn more at cdc.gov. You can find more presentation tips in the COVID-19 Information Center.

Instagram

Wear a Cloth Face Covering to Help Prevent the Spread of COVID-19 When in public, cover your mouth and nose with a cloth face covering. Learn more from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

The company is adding the banners in response to the rise of COVID-19 cases across the United States as well as its struggle to contain misinformation on each platform. In addition to social distancing, the CDC is recommending everyone to wear a mask to prevent the spread of the disease.

Several states, including Pennsylvania and Texas, have issued statewide mask mandates that require all citizens to wear a face mask when leaving their homes.

Joe Wituschek
Joe Wituschek
Contributor

Joe Wituschek is a Contributor at iMore. With over ten years in the technology industry, one of them being at Apple, Joe now covers the company for the website. In addition to covering breaking news, Joe also writes editorials and reviews for a range of products. He fell in love with Apple products when he got an iPod nano for Christmas almost twenty years ago. Despite being considered a "heavy" user, he has always preferred the consumer-focused products like the MacBook Air, iPad mini, and iPhone 13 mini. He will fight to the death to keep a mini iPhone in the lineup. In his free time, Joe enjoys video games, movies, photography, running, and basically everything outdoors.

2 Comments
  • It's sad that we're at a point where people take all their queues from social media sites. People are just mindless sheep. There's no hope.
  • Interesting how suddenly face masks are so important, when months ago they said there was no proof as to whether it actually stopped the virus spreading. Who's telling the truth anymore? Because of this, wearing a mask is considered optional in most parts of the world, except some areas where they have made it a law.