Fact checking organisations will flag fake news for Facebook

Since the presidential campaign, world's biggest social networking platform, Facebook has been receiving loads of flak and criticism for fake news.

Adding to one of its many initiatives, Facebook has partnered with fact-checking organisations - Snopes, Politifact, ABC News, and FactCheck.org. - to begin flagging fake news.

Facebook is introducing tools for users to report links shared in the News Feed as fake news where the partnered organisations will assess the accuracy of viral stories. Its fact-checking partners will get access to the dashboard. After they investigate the article’s claims, they can mark it as disputed. Facebook users who try to share a story that has been marked as false will be warned that “independent fact-checkers have disputed its accuracy.”

“It’s important to us that the stories you see on Facebook are authentic and meaningful,” said in the press release.

The social media giant and its fact-checking partners will observe the movements of the users and check comments to identify stories that are likely to be false. If any two fact-checking organisations mark a story as disputed, online users will see a flag under the article that reads: “Disputed by 3rd Party Fact Checkers,” Facebook says. However, if any user still wants to share the link, a message box dialogue will warn them that the article’s content has been disputed by its fact-checking partners. Users can still click “continue” and share the article if they want to.

However, these users won't be able to use Facebook’s advertising tools.

Facebook plans to bring forth more initiatives to fight fake news. It’s a start. “We know there's more to be done,” Adam Mosseri, V.P, News Feed said. “We're going to keep working on this problem for as long as it takes to get it right.”