Facebook to roll out propaganda check software by year's end

As Facebook announced in San Francisco on Wednesday, users will be able to use the program to track whether they came across content from the Internet Research Agency on Facebook or its Instagram image service between January 2015 and August 2016. The Internet Research Agency is considered to be the originator of Russian propaganda, which also served to influence the US presidential election in November 2016. "It's important that people understand how foreign actors tried to sow discord and distrust by using Facebook before and after the 2016 US election," it said in a Facebook blog on Wednesday.

Previously, the US Congress had called on Facebook and other internet giants to inform their users about their possible influence by Russian propaganda in the course of the US election. Facebook, Twitter, Google and other companies have now founded an initiative with media groups to identify "trustworthy" news sources. The so-called Trust Project is intended to identify news that meets ethical standards and is transparent.

Zuckerberg furious

At the beginning of November, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg stated on the occasion of the publication of quarterly figures that Facebook was "serious about preventing abuse on our platforms". The number of users is growing and business is going well, said Zuckerberg. "But that doesn't matter if our services are exploited in a way that doesn't bring people together." He said it made him angry that Russia had used the network to sow discord.

Shortly before Zuckerberg's statement, Facebook lawyer Colin Stretch had to face unpleasant questions at a hearing in the US Congress. According to the company, an estimated 126 million US users were exposed to Russian propaganda content on Facebook and a further 20 million US users on the Instagram image service. Facebook has more than two billion active users worldwide. (SDA)