Facebook Now Helps Users Spot Fake News
On April 12, this picture was pinned to the top of my Facebook feed:
I clicked on the “Learn More” button, and I was directed to a page about tips for spotting false news. In order to spot misleading articles, Facebook recommends being skeptical of headlines, looking closely at the article’s URL, investigating the source, watching for unusual formatting, considering the photos, inspecting the dates, checking the evidence, looking at other reports, deciding if the article is a joke and detecting if the article is intentionally false.
Facebook users can also report articles and mark them as fake news. Third party fact-checkers can also dispute the articles’ accuracy. In light of the recent election of Donald J. Trump as president, and the increase of fake news on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram, it’s about time the platform allowed users to monitor the “news” that appears on their feeds.
Adam Mosseri, Facebook’s VP, News Feed, wrote an article on April 6 titled, “Working to Stop Misinformation and False News.”
“False news is harmful to our community, it makes the world less informed, and it erodes trust. It’s not a new phenomenon, and all of us — tech companies, media companies, newsrooms, teachers — have a responsibility to do our part in addressing it.” — Mosseri
In order to combat fake news, Facebook plans to disrupt economic incentives, build new products and help people make more informed decisions.
Disrupt economic incentives: “These spammers make money by masquerading as legitimate news publishers and posting hoaxes that get people to visit their sites, which are often mostly ads.”
(Does this sound familiar?)
Build new products: “We cannot become arbiters of truth ourselves — it’s not feasible given our scale, and it’s not our role. Instead, we’re working on better ways to hear from our community and work with third parties to identify false news and prevent it from spreading on our platform.” Facebook is obviously a large platform. Although the company doesn’t currently have the power to combat all fake news online, Facebook is making strides toward building a more truthful news feed for its users.
Help people make more informed decisions: Facebook is “exploring ways to give people more context about stories so they can make more informed decisions about what to read, trust and share and ways to give people access to more perspectives about the topics that they’re reading.”
Facebook is also working with partners such as the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication at Arizona State University, and The News Literacy Project to provide “tools and services for journalists, and [help] people get better information so they can make smart choices about what they read.”
Facebook also joined with “tech industry leaders, academic institutions, non-profits and third party organizations” to launch “the News Integrity Initiative, a global consortium focused on helping people make informed judgments about the news they read and share online.” Ultimately, the initiative’s “mission is to advance news literacy, to increase trust in journalism around the world and to better inform the public conversation.”
Facebook hopes to join technology companies, media companies, and educational organizations with Facebook users to “help curb the spread of misinformation and false news.”
One question remains: Is it possibly to stop the spread of fake news on news feeds entirely? Could this be done if it weren’t so easy to create a news/media page on Facebook?
Facebook still needs to do more to combat the production and consumption of fake news. Even if Facebook never intended to become one of the public’s main sources of news, it happened — and now it’s the company’s duty to provide its users with true and accurate information.
I do praise Facebook for its efforts to combat the spread of fake news on Facebook. Taking strides toward a more truthful newsfeed can only create a more informed public. Big changes start with small ones….
