The large US internet platforms have pledged a joint effort to root out misinformation about the coronavirus pandemic and to promote "authoritative content" about the crisis.
A joint statement was issued late Monday by Facebook, Google, Twitter, Microsoft and Reddit along with Google-owned YouTube and Microsoft-owned LinkedIn.
"We are working closely together on COVID-19 response efforts." the joint statement said.
"We're helping millions of people stay connected while also jointly combating fraud and misinformation about the virus, elevating authoritative content on our platforms, and sharing critical updates in coordination with government healthcare agencies around the world.
"We invite other companies to join us as we work to keep our communities healthy and safe."
Facebook noted in its own statement that it had already taken steps to limit misinformation and harmful content about the pandemic including banning ads intended to create panic or promote unproven cures.
The move comes amid an unprecedented global response to the pandemic as well as increased claims that the virus itself is a hoax.
Several countries have implemented effective lockdown measures to contain the outbreak, a move followed by some US cities and states.
Microsoft Corp on Wednesday said it will offer its cyber security service AccountGuard to 12 new markets in Europe including Germany, France and Spain, to close security gaps and protect customers in political space from hacking.
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Microsoft had recently detected attacks, which occurred between September and December 2018, targeting employees of the German Council on Foreign Relations and European offices of The Aspen Institute and The German Marshall Fund, the company said here in a blog post.
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The attacks, which targeted 104 employee accounts in Belgium, France, Germany, Poland, Romania, and Serbia, are believed to have originated from a group called Strontium, the company added.
The AccountGuard service will also be available in Sweden, Denmark, Netherlands, Finland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Portugal and Slovakia.
Ahead of a critical European Parliament election in May, German officials are trying to bolster cyber security after a far-reaching data breach by a 20-year-old student laid bare the vulnerability of Europe’s largest economy.
Two anti-Semitic posts have been deleted from fringe social network Gab after Microsoft, citing the content, threatened to take the site down.
The posts were made by Patrick Little, who says he is running for US president and wants to remove Jewish people from America.
Microsoft hosts Gab on its Azure cloud service.
Gab's founder Andrew Torba said that one of the posts "unquestionably" broke the site's rules.
The BBC has sent a request to Gab for comment.
The social network describes itself as a platform for free speech, but much of the content on the site presents far-right viewpoints, including racist and anti-Semitic posts.
'Malicious activity'
"Gab's hosting provider, Microsoft Azure, has given us 48 hours to take action on two posts, or they will pull our service and Gab will go down for weeks/months," wrote Mr Torba on the site.
Microsoft said it had received a third-party complaint about Mr Little's posts, which were described as "malicious activity" in a message to Mr Torba requesting that they be removed.
They were also described as "phishing URLs" - though the posts did not appear to contain any content that could be described as phishing.
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"We believe we have an important responsibility to ensure that our services are not abused by people and groups seeking to incite violence," the tech giant said in a statement.
"Gab.ai is of course free to choose otherwise and work with another cloud service provider or host this content itself."
Later, Mr Torba acknowledged that one of Mr Little's posts "unquestionably breaks our user guidelines".
He accused Mr Little of "playing games" after Mr Little said he would delete the posts himself but did not.
Image copyrightANDREW TORBAImage captionGab founder Andrew Torba
"We took action and removed both posts," wrote Mr Torba on Gab. "We had no choice."
"We are actively looking into other hosting providers and our long-term goal is building our own infrastructure."
He added that he believed taking the posts down was the "best decision for the longevity of the platform and the war against Silicon Valley".
Previously, Mr Little had said, "I'll delete the posts, but this is a violation of our rights as Americans."
Shortly afterwards, Gab's official Twitter account said Mr Little did remove the posts.
However, this was subsequently contradicted by Mr Torba, who said it was Gab that had stepped in to delete them.
Last September, Gab filed a lawsuit against Google after the social network was removed from Play, the Android app store.
Gab has become more prominent at a time when the extent to which "free speech" should be allowed on the web is being hotly debated.
In recent days, a number of tech giants have removed content by conspiracy theorist Alex Jones.
Apple, Facebook, YouTube and Spotify all decided to take down some or all of Jones's videos or podcasts, citing rules against "hate speech".
Gab user jailed
On 9 August, a man who used Gab to call for Muslims to be burnt on bonfires or gassed, was jailed in the UK for 16 months.
Jonathan Jennings also threatened to kill Jeremy Corbyn if he became prime minister and said Gina Miller, a pro-EU campaigner, should be executed.
He pleaded guilty to six counts of publishing or distributing written material intended to stir up religious hatred, and four counts of sending communication with intent to cause distress or anxiety.
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