Facebook has a new area of its app it will have to police for fake news and biased sensationalism. Facebook is launching “Today In”, its local news aggregator it began testing in January, in 400 small to medium-sized US cities. It’s also now testing it in its first overseas spot in Australia. iOS and Android […]
View More Facebook must police Today In, its local news digest launching in 400 citiesCategory: Facebook Fake News
Facebook launches ‘Hunt for False News’ debunk blog as fakery drops 50%
Facebook hopes detailing concrete examples of fake news it’s caught — or missed — could improve news literacy, or at least prove it’s attacking the misinformation problem. Today Facebook launched “The Hunt for False News,” in which it examines viral B.S., relays the decisions of its third-party fact-checkers and explains how the story was tracked […]
View More Facebook launches ‘Hunt for False News’ debunk blog as fakery drops 50%Facebook rolls out photo/video fact checking so partners can train its AI
Sometimes fake news lives inside of Facebook as photos and videos designed to propel misinformation campaigns, instead of off-site on news articles that can generate their own ad revenue. To combat these politically rather than financially-motivated meddlers, Facebook has to be able to detect fake news inside of images and the audio that accompanies video […]
View More Facebook rolls out photo/video fact checking so partners can train its AIFacebook assigns you a fake-news-flagging trustworthiness score
A new way to attack Facebook is to fraudulently report a news story as false in hopes of reducing its visibility, either because someone wants to censor it or just doesn’t agree with it. Sometimes known as “brigading,” a concerted effort by trolls to flag a piece of content can reduce its visibility. Facebook now […]
View More Facebook assigns you a fake-news-flagging trustworthiness scoreDodged questions from Facebook’s press call on misinformation
Facebook avoided some of the toughest inquiries from reporters yesterday during a conference call about its efforts to fight election interference and fake news. The company did provide additional transparency on important topics by subjecting itself to intense questioning from a gaggle of its most vocal critics. A few bits of interesting news did emerge: […]
View More Dodged questions from Facebook’s press call on misinformationFacebook would make a martyr by banning Infowars
Alex Jones’ Infowars is a fake news-peddler. But Facebook deleting its Page could ignite a fire that consumes the network. Still, some critics are asking why it hasn’t done so already. This week Facebook held an event with journalists to discuss how it combats fake news. The company’s recently appointed head of News Feed John Hegeman […]
View More Facebook would make a martyr by banning InfowarsFacebook shrinks fake news after warnings backfire
Tell someone not to do something and sometimes they just want to do it more. That’s what happened when Facebook put red flags on debunked fake news. Users who wanted to believe the false stories had their fevers ignited and they actually shared the hoaxes more. That led Facebook to ditch the incendiary red flags in […]
View More Facebook shrinks fake news after warnings backfireFacebook demands ID verification for big Pages, “issue” ad buyers
Facebook is looking to self-police by implementing parts of the proposed Honest Ads Act before the government tries to regulate it. To fight fake news and election interference, Facebook will require the admins of popular Facebook Pages and advertisers buying political or “issue” ads on “debated topics of national legislative importance” like education or abortion […]
View More Facebook demands ID verification for big Pages, “issue” ad buyersFacebook reveals Russian troll content, shuts down 135 IRA accounts
Facebook is showing an unprecedented level of transparency around its latest effort to suspend Russian trolls trying to influence elections and mislead the public as it tries to regain the trust of users and the government. The company shared both stats about the account deletions and samples of the content they shared. Facebook has removed […]
View More Facebook reveals Russian troll content, shuts down 135 IRA accountsFacebook fights fake news with author info, rolls out publisher context
Red flags and “disputed” tags just entrenched people’s views about suspicious news articles, so Facebook is hoping to give readers a wide array of info so they can make their own decisions about what’s misinformation. Facebook will try showing links to a journalist’s Wikipedia entry, other articles, and a follow button to help users make […]
View More Facebook fights fake news with author info, rolls out publisher contextFacebook and the endless string of worst-case scenarios
Facebook has naively put its faith in humanity and repeatedly been abused, exploited, and proven either negligent or complicit. The company routinely ignores or downplays the worst-case scenarios, idealistically building products without the necessary safeguards, and then drags its feet to admit the extent of the problems. This approach, willful or not, has led to […]
View More Facebook and the endless string of worst-case scenarios