WASHINGTON Facebook unveiled a tool that
allows users to report fake news, a move aimed at stemming a wave
of misinformation some claimed had influenced the recent US
election.
Facebook's vice-president Adam Mosseri said in a blog
post: "We believe in giving people a voice, and that we cannot
become arbiters of truth ourselves, so we're approaching this
problem carefully.
"We've focused our efforts on the worst of the worst,
on the clear hoaxes spread by spammers for their own gain, and on
engaging both our community and third-party organisations."
Facebook said it would begin testing a system enabling
users to click on news items if they suspect the reports are
fabricated.
It said it would work with global fact-checking
organisations subscribing to the Poynter Institute's International
Fact Checking Code of Principles.
Said Mr Mosseri: "If the fact-checking organisations
identify a story as fake, it will get flagged as disputed, and
there will be a link to the corresponding article explaining
why.
"Stories that have been disputed may also appear lower
in News Feed."
Facebook has been under fire for failing to stem an
epidemic of fake news that some critics believe may have helped the
election of Republican Donald Trump by spreading unfounded negative
news about his Democratic opponent Hillary Clinton.
Facebook has dismissed the notion that fake news shared
on the social network swung the results, but it has been stepping
up efforts to weed out false news.
The US social media giant, with 1.8 billion users, has
resisted calls to label itself a "media company" or implement
efforts to impose editorial judgments on news being shared.
But Facebook said it would crack down on "spoof
domains", or sites that pretend to be real publications, as part of
its most recent announcement.
Stories determined to be bogus could still be shared,
"but you will see a warning that the story has been disputed".
Last month, Facebook and Google said they would cut off
websites promoting fake news from their lucrative advertising
networks, seeking to clamp down on "click farms" that make money
when users click on sensational headlines.
But an analysis by watchdog group Media Matters found
Google AdSense advertisements on more than half of sites studied
with track records for pushing fake news stories.
Media Matters president Angelo Carusone said: "The
recent incarnation of 'fake news' is destructive and dangerous.
"Its proliferation and the perverse incentive that
rewards it with money must be stopped.
"Consumers must be discerning when reading and sharing
news so as not to become part of the problem. And fake news
creators should not be able to profit from their scams."
Separately on Thursday, a survey by the Pew Research
Center showed 64 per cent of US adults believed fake news causes
confusion about basic facts in current events.
Although many respondents said they sense fake stories
are spreading confusion, they were relatively confident in their
own ability to detect hoaxes.
The survey found 39 per cent "very confident" that they
can recognise fabricated news and another 45 per cent "somewhat
confident".
But 14 per cent acknowledged they shared a news item
they knew was fake at the time, and 16 per cent said they shared
one they later realised to be fake.
The fake news during the US election included stories
saying Pope Francis had endorsed Mr Trump, and that Mrs Clinton was
linked to a paedophilia ring operating out of a pizzeria.
The survey of 1,002 adults was conducted from Dec 1 to
4. - AFP
TNP