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Facebook reveals new measures to tackle fake news

Photo credit: Facebook
Photo credit: Facebook

From Digital Spy

Facebook has unveiled its latest attempt to tackle the problem of fake news by allowing users to rank the trustworthiness of news sources.

The company has come under fire since the 2016 US presidential election over its apparent role in the spreading of false news stories.

For its new measure, founder Mark Zuckerberg announced that users themselves will be asked to help find "high quality" news sources to help tackle "sensationalism, misinformation and polarization".

Facebook will soon introduce surveys where they will ask users whether they're familiar with a news source, and if so, whether or not they trust that source.

"The idea is that some news organizations are only trusted by their readers or watchers, and others are broadly trusted across society even by those who don't follow them directly," Zuckerberg explained.

"We eliminate from the sample those who aren't familiar with a source, so the output is a ratio of those who trust the source to those who are familiar with it."

However, he acknowledged that "social media enables people to spread information faster than ever before, and if we don't specifically tackle these problems, then we end up amplifying them".

The change will be tested in the US from next week, and will affect media outlet posts and news that users share.

Photo credit: Getty Images
Photo credit: Getty Images

Another shake-up to the social media site was announced last week, with Facebook planning to change the way posts and videos would be filtered on users' news feeds.

Zuckerberg revealed that personal content from families and friends would be prioritised over that from brands and businesses.


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