Facebook to warn users if they engaged with coronavirus fake news
Facebook will start warning users if they shared or engaged with articles and links that contain false information about the COVID-19 coronavirus.
CEO Mark Zuckerberg last week provided an update on how Facebook was ensuring accurate coronavirus information was provided to users across the company’s platforms.
The company launched a dedicated COVID-19 data hub on users’ home feeds back in March. This page provides links to and updates from official sources of information based on the user’s location.
The COVID-19 Information Centre includes official cautionary tips from the World Health Organisation (WHO) relating to self-care and curbing the spread of the virus.
It also shows links to the pages and websites of several institutes Facebook regards as recognised health organisations.
In South Africa, this includes the National Institute for Communicable Diseases (NICD), the National Department of Health, Doctors Without Borders/MSF South Africa, and Africa CDC.
Zuckerberg said this portal has enjoyed widespread attention around the world on both Facebook and Instagram, directing over 2 billion people to authoritative health sources and educational pop-ups, with more than 350 million people clicking through to learn more.
How Facebook is handling fake news
Zuckerberg outlined the steps Facebook was taking to address a surge in fake news on its platforms.
He said that the company removes pieces of content with information that could lead to imminent physical harm.
“We’ve taken down hundreds of thousands of pieces of misinformation related to COVID-19, including theories like drinking bleach cures the virus or that physical distancing is ineffective at preventing the disease from spreading,” Zuckerberg said.
In addition to this, when fact-checkers find other articles and links that contain misinformation, Facebook reduces its distribution and applies warning labels with more context to the pieces, Zuckerberg stated.
“In March, we displayed warnings on about 40 million posts related to COVID-19 based on 4,000 articles reviewed by independent fact-checkers,” Zuckerberg noted.
He added that 95% of the time people saw these warning labels, they did not go on to view the original content.
Warning messages
Zuckerberg said Facebook will start showing messages in the News Feed which warns users who have previously engaged with harmful COVID-19-related information that the content has since been removed.
These messages will also link to accurate information on the topic.
In addition, Facebook will be launching a new section in the COVID-19 Information Centre aimed at providing articles targeting fake news in particular.
Get The Facts will feature articles written by independent fact-checking partners that debunk COVID-19 misinformation.
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