It is not unusual for fake news to get viral on the internet. This is not only misleading, but also unethical. In an attempt to fight this menace, Facebook has recently debuted the ‘flag news’ option.
The fight against fake news on Facebook!
AP, Snopes, FactCheck.org, ABC News and other non partisan third parties will help Facebook flag fake news. This will make news related to fake news less visible, attach warnings about fake news in the feed, and make reporting fake news easier.
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This will reduce the inflitration of spams and hoaxes on newsfeed. Hoaxes are shared deliberately to make financial gains.
Facebook will use fact-checking services that follow Poynter’s International Fact-Checking Network fact-checkers’ code of principles. This will allow for transparent fact checking.
If they find out that a story is fake, will notify Facebook. They will also give reference of the news source that debunked that particular post. It will then move these posts down in the newsfeed. They will also append a warning which will show who debunked the post and why. It will also prevent disputed stories turning into ads.
Fact checking to make sure news items are authentic!
How Will The Facebook Newsfeed Look Now?
Not a lot different.
You will now know if a post has been flagged
It is yet to be seen how this new feature will affect their algorithm for a story’s performance. Flagged news will appear on your feed with a little caution item which will show you why it was flagged and by whom.
The fact checking parties will not receive any payment but they will get more traffic and popularity. This is because the fact checking services are more concerned about their mission of accountable journalism than any financial gains.
They will also do a crack down against fake ads posted by companies posing as a brand. Clicking these ads lead you to the website of that fake brand. They might even take further actions against them.
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They are now working on tools that will be able to better identify fake news. It is also working on the improvement of its ‘related news’ feature to prevent it from showing fake news.
Facebook is the primary source of news for a lot of people. Considering an ideal world, this is a brilliant move by them. Sadly, the world is less than perfect and Facebook can lose out. It will lose out financially, and it may also anger people who like to read controversial news.
What do you think about this new feature? Is this useful or will it make browsing less fun? Let us know below!
