Facebook will ask journalists if news is real if enough users have expressed doubts about a particular story. The fact-checking of news helps the social network in the fight against fake news on the social network.
Users will now have an option to express doubt in a link in the top right about the authenticity of a message they encounter in their news feed, Recode writes. If enough users have clicked the button, Facebook will send the message to journalists from four media outlets for checking. These are ABC News, Politifact, FactCheck and Snopes, all four media from the United States.
If two of those media identify the story as fake news, it will be notified that it is a ‘disputed’ story. Then, when users want to share the story, they are asked if they really want to through a pop-up that explicitly states that the story is probably wrong.
By designating only US media, it appears that the feature will only work in the United States. Fake news on Facebook is also an item in Europe. The social network said last month that it wanted to tackle fake news. Among other things, it has closed its advertising system to sites that spread fake news. The case came to the fore after allegations that fake news on Facebook had influenced the US presidential election. Donald Trump defeated rival candidate Hillary Clinton.