Facebook is going to take tougher action against the spread of fake news
The fake news mill will soon get a lot harder on Facebook, the social media company announces. Fake news distributors will have less reach on the platform from May 2021. Facebook is also launching new ways to inform people when there may be fake news.
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Facebook wants to kill fake news
The spread of fake news is an ever-increasing problem. Facebook is done with it. The company recently announced that it is coming up with new ways to combat fake news.
In 2020, the amount of fake news has skyrocketed, partly thanks to the outbreak of COVID-19. Many people post false information about vaccines and the origin of the virus.
From May 2021, users who allegedly spread fake news will have less reach on all their posts. News is checked by so-called fact-checkers from Facebook.
When news is found to be untrue, Facebook takes measures. Distributors of fake news then get less reach on all their posts. This applies to both pages and personal accounts.
Warn users with popups
In addition to tackling the spreaders, Facebook will also try to contain the fake news itself. Users will soon see refreshed pop-ups when they presumably read fake news. The notification contains an article that invalidates the fake news, along with an incentive to share the correct article.
In this way, Facebook prevents the spread of fake news, while the company encourages the spread of the true news. What the fake news is about doesn’t matter. Facebook wants to combat as many inaccuracies as possible.
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