[kictanet] Fwd:[Internet Policy] What Facebook Is Doing to Combat Fake News

[Barrack Otieno]

Listers ,

For your information and attention.

Regards
---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: "Richard Hill" <rhill at hill-a.ch>
Date: Feb 10, 2017 5:20 PM
Subject: [Internet Policy] What Facebook Is Doing to Combat Fake News
To: "Internetpolicy at Elists. Isoc. Org" <internetpolicy at elists.isoc.org>






What Facebook Is Doing to Combat Fake News
<https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/pogue-what-facebook-is-doing-to-combat-fake-news/?WT.mc_id=SA_MB_20170208>

*The social network has rolled out new tools to deal with this growing
problem*

   - *By David Pogue
   <https://www.scientificamerican.com/author/david-pogue/> | Scientific
   American February 2017 Issue
   <https://www.scientificamerican.com/magazine/sa/2017/02-01/?WT.ac=SA_SA_CurrentIssue>*

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[image: mage removed by sender.]

*Credit: Iain Masterton Getty Images
<http://www.gettyimages.com/license/599388352>*

This month, in my *Scientific American
<https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/the-ultimate-cure-for-the-fake-news-epidemic-will-be-more-skeptical-readers/>*
 column
<https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/the-ultimate-cure-for-the-fake-news-epidemic-will-be-more-skeptical-readers/>,
I wrote about the rise of fake news
<https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/pogue-what-facebook-is-doing-to-combat-fake-news/?WT.mc_id=SA_MB_20170208>
stories:
Bogus stories, posted on no-name Web sites, intended to generate ad income
(and perhaps to influence the presidential election).

At first, Facebook
<https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/pogue-what-facebook-is-doing-to-combat-fake-news/?WT.mc_id=SA_MB_20170208>
CEO
Mark Zuckerberg downplayed the significance of the fake-news tsunami.

But as the backlash continued, Facebook
<https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/pogue-what-facebook-is-doing-to-combat-fake-news/?WT.mc_id=SA_MB_20170208>
soon
rolled out new tools to combat the spread of fake news
<https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/pogue-what-facebook-is-doing-to-combat-fake-news/?WT.mc_id=SA_MB_20170208>.
As a spokesman puts it
<https://newsroom.fb.com/news/2016/12/news-feed-fyi-addressing-hoaxes-and-fake-news/>,
“We cannot become arbiters of truth ourselves.”

Instead, the new tools take four approaches, which Facebook
<https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/pogue-what-facebook-is-doing-to-combat-fake-news/?WT.mc_id=SA_MB_20170208>
intends
to study and enhance over time.

First: If you tap the V button at the top right of a post and then choose
“Report this post,” you’ll see a new option called “It’s a fake news
<https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/pogue-what-facebook-is-doing-to-combat-fake-news/?WT.mc_id=SA_MB_20170208>
story.”
On the next screen, you’ll have a choice of options, including “Mark this
post as fake news
<https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/pogue-what-facebook-is-doing-to-combat-fake-news/?WT.mc_id=SA_MB_20170208>.”
(Other options include “Message Chris Robin” [or whomever posted the story]
to let them know they fell for it.)

Second: If enough people flag a story as fake, it will be sent to a
fact-checking organization like Snopes.com or PolitiFact. And if the outfit
determines that yes, the story is bogus, it will appear on Facebook
<https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/pogue-what-facebook-is-doing-to-combat-fake-news/?WT.mc_id=SA_MB_20170208>
with
a red banner that says, “Disputed by Third-Party Fact Checkers.” That
banner will include a link to the fact checkers’ article explaining why the
story is false. (If you try to share it, you’ll see a similar message.)

In other words, Facebook
<https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/pogue-what-facebook-is-doing-to-combat-fake-news/?WT.mc_id=SA_MB_20170208>
is
being careful to avoid outright censorship. The stories still appear, but
with flags that identify them as phony. (Those stories may appear lower in
your News Feed, and can’t be promoted or made into ads.)

Third: Facebook
<https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/pogue-what-facebook-is-doing-to-combat-fake-news/?WT.mc_id=SA_MB_20170208>
will
employ software to help identify fake stories. For example, Facebook
<https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/pogue-what-facebook-is-doing-to-combat-fake-news/?WT.mc_id=SA_MB_20170208>
has
learned that when lots of people read a certain article but then don’t
share it, it’s often because the story is phony.

Fourth: Facebook
<https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/pogue-what-facebook-is-doing-to-combat-fake-news/?WT.mc_id=SA_MB_20170208>
is
trying to shut down the financial incentive for fakers. Its engineers have
eliminated the ability for the fakers to create Web sites that impersonate
actual news sites, for example. And the company will analyze sites that
draw ad dollars from Facebook
<https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/pogue-what-facebook-is-doing-to-combat-fake-news/?WT.mc_id=SA_MB_20170208>
traffic,
and will cut them off if they’re in the business of fake-news fraud.

As Facebook
<https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/pogue-what-facebook-is-doing-to-combat-fake-news/?WT.mc_id=SA_MB_20170208>
has
pointed out, there can be a fine line between “fake news
<https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/pogue-what-facebook-is-doing-to-combat-fake-news/?WT.mc_id=SA_MB_20170208>”
and satire, rumor, editorial and true-but-missing-context stories. The
company’s four steps strike me as impressively fair and thoughtful. They
aim to help readers sort out fact from fiction, without actually stifling
anybody’s opinion.

*This article was originally published with the title "What Facebook Is
Doing to Combat Fake News
<https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/pogue-what-facebook-is-doing-to-combat-fake-news/?WT.mc_id=SA_MB_20170208>"*



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