Facebook has launched its new algorithm to check the validity of news circling the French Presidential Election. The new program which has been introduced in US and Germany will further be rolled out to other parts of the world to prevent the propagation of fake news. The program allow users to flag possible false news stories which are then checked by “third-party fact checking organizations. News which are marked unreliable by users in their feeds are further processed of their validity.
According to Bloomberg, “Facebook said Monday it will extend the fact-checking tools it has already launched in the U.S. and Germany to France in the coming weeks, with local media in charge of spotting and flagging fishy content, according to a statement Monday. The initiative also includes making it easier for the platform’s users to signal potential fake news, with the goal of limiting financial gains for authors of such content. Anything flagged –a link to a story for example– will appear on Facebook as “disputed by third party fact-checkers”.
“Around the U.S. presidential election last year, Facebook faced an uproar over the use of its social network to spread fake news. Responding to growing critics, the company unveiled new features to select users in the U.S., added options for readers and third-party fact checkers to flag articles, tweak the platform’s algorithm and provide more restrictions on advertising,” reports Bloomberg.
