Facebook ramps up efforts to curb fake news before UK election

Facebook’s efforts to curb fake news are becoming an all-out assault, and its next test comes in the lead-up to United Kingdom’s general elections in June.

After the social network was lambasted for allowing false news reports to propagate during last year’s presidential election in the United states, the company promised it would beef up its efforts to put an end to the practice. Facebook announced a variety of methods, policies and procedures it would enact to ensure that news being shared on the platform was accurate.

With Britain’s general elections kicking off next month, Facebook published advertisements in newspapers seeking to educate users how to identify fake news. The company has also removed what it believes are thousands of fake accounts in the U.K. and has improved its algorithm to deemphasize what could be considered spam or false information.

“People want to see accurate information on Facebook,” Simon Milner, Facebook policy director in the U.K., said in a statement. “That is why we are doing everything we can to tackle the problem of false news.”

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Facebook is teaming with Full Fact, a non-profit dedicated to working with major publications “to address rumours and misinformation spreading online during the UK election,” according to the organization’s statement.

The ads list the following steps for spotting false news:

1. Be skeptical of headlines.

2. Look closely at the URL.

3. Investigate the source.

4. Watch for unusual formatting.

5. Consider accompanying photos.

6. Inspect the article’s dates.

7. Check the evidence.

8. Look at other reports.

9. Ask: Is the story a joke?

10. Realize that some stories are intentionally false.

Facebook took a similar tack in France ahead of its recent presidential election and suspended 30,000 accounts in that country. The move is is not Facebook’s first newspaper-based news education effort, either: It placed similar advertisements in German publications prior to the country’s elections.

Even though the platform has beefed up its efforts, European officials are still wary.

The New York Times reported:

Despite the Silicon Valley giant’s increased efforts to clamp down on how misinformation is spread, policy makers, journalists and others in Europe remain skeptical about the ability of Facebook and other technology companies to fight such digital falsities.

Some politicians in the region have already called for hefty fines against social media networks when they fail to police false reports and hate speech online. And several European publishers have balked at participating in Facebook’s fact-checking efforts, saying it is the company’s responsibility — not theirs — to determine what is false or misleading.

You can get the full explanations behind the Facebook’s steps to curb fake news here.

What do you think about the moves, PR Daily readers?

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