Facebook and French media companies crack down on fake news
After deploying its anti-fake news tools in Germany because of the lawsuits hanging over its head, Facebook is now doing the same thing in France. According to Reuters, the social network has enrolled the help of eight French media companies to verify the facts in the articles reported by the users. Le Monde, Agence France-Presse (AFP), France Médias Monde, Franceinfo, Libération, 20 Minutes, BFM-TV and L’Express will be Facebook's partners in this endeavor.
As far as I understand, fake stories can only be discovered with the help of the users. Simply put, whenever an article is marked by Facebook's users as misleading, the previously mentioned companies will check the facts and if two of them can prove with links that it is untrue or misleading, the social network will automatically flag it as disputed in the users News Feeds. Additionally, those who try to share the story will see a warning, telling them that they're likely spreading fake information. Since the French elections are right around the corner, Facebook's timing couldn't be better. Hopefully the other major sources of information like Google or Twitter will follow suit and stop various individuals or organizations from misleading the electorate.
Those who spend a lot of time on the world's largest social network may also be interested in checking out some of our other stories on the topic such as: "Facebook FacioMetrics uses your face for in-app actions" or "Get more out of Facebook".
