Facebook realizes that fake news is a problem, but isstill a long way from figuring out how to solve it. At CODE Media today, Facebook VP of partnerships Dan Rose said combatting fake news is something thats really important to us, but acknowledged that the company is just getting started and theres a lot of work we cando.
In a world where peoples perceptions of reality arebeing shaped largely by what appears in theirsocial feeds,some people have argued thatcompanies likeFacebook have a responsibility to ensure theyre not being fed a steady diet of fake news.
Facebook is moving tryingto reduce the impact of sensational or misleading content showing up in users news feeds. Part of that is a reaction to the election of Donald Trump following the viral spread of fake election news via Facebook,which is basically the digital equivalent of shutting the barn door after the horse has bolted.
But part ofit is by necessity, as other nations are pressuring Facebook to clamp down on the spread of news that could be disruptive to their own elections.
In Germany, which is facinga nationwide election this year, lawmakers proposed a rule that would levy a 500,000 euro finefor each piece of fake news it fails to take down within 24 hours. No surprise, then, that Germany was one of the first places where Facebook rolled out new tools to combat misleading articles being shared.
Rose highlighted the steps the company has already taken to alleviate the problem, which include its effort to work with third-party fact checkers to identify misleading headlines and untrue stories. Its also providing better tools to allow users to flagcontent in their feeds, and sending those stories to third-party fact checkers.
Part ofFacebooks reluctance to censoring what people shares on theirfeeds might come from a philosophical standpoint of whether the company is, in fact, a media company. On that point, Rose demurred, saying that Facebook is a new type of platformwhere people discover a lot of media content.
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The post Facebook is still figuring out how to tackle fake news appeared first on MavWrek Marketing by Jason
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