Like information disseminated through online platforms, infectious diseases can cross international borders as they track the movement of people (and sometimes animals and goods) and spread globally. Hence, their control and management have major implications for international relations, and international law. Drawing on this analogy, this chapter looks to global health governance to formulate suggestions for the governance of online platforms. Successes in global health governance suggest that the principle of tackling low-hanging fruit first to build trust and momentum towards more challenging goals may extend to online platform governance. Progress beyond the low-hanging fruit appears more challenging: For one, disagreement on the issue of resource allocation in the online platform setting may lead to “outbreaks” of disinformation being relegated to regions of the world that may not be at the top of online platforms’ market priorities lists. Secondly, while there may be wide consensus on the harms of infectious disease outbreaks, the harms from the spread of disinformation are more contested. Relying on national definitions of disinformation would hardly yield coherent international cooperation. Global health governance would thus suggest that an internationally negotiated agreement on standards as it relates to disinformation may be necessary.

Global health law has been a focus of debates since the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic. This chapter examines global health law in the face of Covid-19, with the focus on China. It answers the accountability question and finds that China has fulfilled its obligation of notification under the World Health Organization (WHO) International Health Regulations 2005, yet the current international health governance is facing great challenges. The chapter argues that international cooperation should be a duty under the global health law, and therefore that more effective global health governance should be in place, especially with a binding mechanism to ensure a global response strategy in case of a future public health crisis.