Facebook to Become Fact-Check Book So No One is Duped by ‘Fake News’

Don’t worry! Mark Zuckerberg knows the difference.

Soon, Facebook users won’t have to rely on their own wits to research which news stories in their News Feed are fake or real because it will be done for them through third-party “fact checkers.”

The company announced on Thursday that it will begin testing the addition on “a small percentage” of its users, according to Business Insider. Using sources like Snopes, Factcheck.org, Politifact, the Associated Press, and ABC News, Facebook will sniff out the story and label it as fake and the story will be demoted in the News Feed. An algorithm will also detect if the “fake” story is going viral to help in the labeling decision.

Facebook News Feed chief Adam Mosseri assured that the company is only going after “the worst of the worst, on the clear hoaxes spread by spammers for their own gain, and on engaging both our community and third party organizations.”

Facebook has also put a team of researchers to task reviewing all website domain names to make sure none are spoofed, such as “washingtonpost.co,” and send them to the third-party checkers for approval.  

Zuckerberg posted an update on Facebook about the changes:

Today we're making it easier to report hoaxes, and if many people report a story, then we'll send it to third-party fact checking organizations. If the fact checkers agree a story is a hoax, you'll see a flag on the story saying it has been disputed, and that story may be less likely to show up in News Feed. You'll still be able to read and share the story, but you'll now have more information about whether fact checkers believe it's accurate. No one will be able to make a disputed story into an ad or promote it on our platform.

We've also found that if people who read an article are significantly less likely to share it than people who just read the headline, that may be a sign it's misleading. We're going to start incorporating this signal into News Feed ranking.

These steps will help make spreading misinformation less profitable for spammers who make money by getting more people to visit their sites. And we're also going to crack down on spammers who masquerade as well-known news organizations.

The CEO added, “Facebook is a new kind of platform… and that means we have a new kind of responsibility to enable people to have the most meaningful conversations, and to build a space where people can be informed.”

Here's what would pop up on screen if a user doubted the validity of a shared link:

More details here.

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