Facebook announces tougher crackdown on fake news
In the face of massive criticism of Facebook for false news, the social network has announced tougher action against it in Germany.
In the face of massive criticism of Facebook for false news, the social network has announced tougher action against it in Germany. The effort will focus on the spread of "clear false news" created by so-called spammers, Facebook announced on Sunday. Spammers pretend to be well-known news outlets and publish false reports so that more people visit their websites.
Facebook is working with "external fact-checkers," the U.S. company explained. In Germany, this is Correctiv, which says it is "the first non-profit research center in the German-speaking world. The research office is funded by foundations and donations. Facebook is confident that it will be able to win other organizations from the media industry as partners in the future, the U.S. company explained. The false news is to be reported by Facebook users. Then the U.S. company wants to look for "other characteristics that are typical of false news". Based on this, contributions will be forwarded to the research organization.
If the articles were identified as fake, they would be marked with a warning that they were not credible. The warning notice would include a link to the article in question and the reasoning behind the decision. A post with a warning can no longer be made into an ad or highlighted, according to Facebook. "We believe that independent and transparent fact-checking can be a powerful tool for responsible journalism," Facebook said. The "update" will be rolled out in Germany in the coming weeks, it added. (SDA)
