Facebook is expanding its efforts to block fake news. As part of this, Associated Press will increase its fact-checking role with the social media giant.
Scaling up The Fact-Checking
Writing in a blog, Guy Rosen, Facebook’s Vice President of Integrity, and Tessa Lyons, Head of News Geed Integrity said:
There simply aren’t enough professional fact-checkers worldwide, and like all good journalism, fact-checking — especially when it involves investigation of more nuanced or complex claims — takes time. We want to be able to tackle more false news, more quickly.”
They said they would work with external experts to help achieve fact-checking at the scale required. “We’re going to build on those explorations, continuing to consult a wide range of academics, fact-checking experts, journalists, survey researchers and civil society organizations to understand the benefits and risks of ideas like this,” they wrote.
One of those external firms will be Associated Press. The newswire will expand its fact-checking role with Facebook (via Bloomberg News).
Facebook will also take firmer action against groups who constantly spread falsehoods on the network, such as anti-vaccine groups. It will make Group admins more responsible for any drop in standards of content in the group. People will also be able to delete comments in Facebook Groups even after they have left it.
Does this include the incredibly annoying hoaxes created by data miners and spread by the gullible?