Facebook is taking new measures to curb the spread of fake news on its
huge and influential social network, focusing on the "worst of the
worst" offenders and partnering with outside fact-checkers to sort
honest news reports from made-up stories that play to people's passions
and preconceived notions.
Fake news stories touch on a broad range of subjects, from unproven cancer cures to celebrity hoaxes and backyard Bigfoot sightings. But fake political stories have drawn attention because of the possibility that they influenced public perceptions and could have swayed the U.S. presidential election.
To start, Facebook is making it easier for users to report fake news when they see it, which they can now do in two steps, not three. If enough people report a story as fake, Facebook will pass it to third-party fact-checking organizations that are part of the nonprofit Poynter Institute's International Fact-Checking Network.
The fact-checking organizations Facebook is currently working with are ABC News, The Associated Press, FactCheck.org, Politifact and Snopes. Facebook says this group is likely to expand.
Stories that flunk the fact check won't be removed from Facebook. But they'll be publicly flagged as "disputed" by third-party fact-checkers, which will force them to appear lower down in people's news feed. Users can click on a link to learn why. And if people decide they want to share the story anyway, they can — but they'll get another warning that it has been disputed.
By partnering with respected outside organizations and flagging, rather than removing, these disputed stories, Facebook is sidestepping some of the biggest concerns experts had raised about it exercising its considerable power in this areas. For instance, some worried that Facebook might act as a censor — and not a skillful one, either, being an engineer-led company with little experience making complex media ethics decisions.
Fake news stories touch on a broad range of subjects, from unproven cancer cures to celebrity hoaxes and backyard Bigfoot sightings. But fake political stories have drawn attention because of the possibility that they influenced public perceptions and could have swayed the U.S. presidential election.
To start, Facebook is making it easier for users to report fake news when they see it, which they can now do in two steps, not three. If enough people report a story as fake, Facebook will pass it to third-party fact-checking organizations that are part of the nonprofit Poynter Institute's International Fact-Checking Network.
The fact-checking organizations Facebook is currently working with are ABC News, The Associated Press, FactCheck.org, Politifact and Snopes. Facebook says this group is likely to expand.
Stories that flunk the fact check won't be removed from Facebook. But they'll be publicly flagged as "disputed" by third-party fact-checkers, which will force them to appear lower down in people's news feed. Users can click on a link to learn why. And if people decide they want to share the story anyway, they can — but they'll get another warning that it has been disputed.
By partnering with respected outside organizations and flagging, rather than removing, these disputed stories, Facebook is sidestepping some of the biggest concerns experts had raised about it exercising its considerable power in this areas. For instance, some worried that Facebook might act as a censor — and not a skillful one, either, being an engineer-led company with little experience making complex media ethics decisions.
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