Facebook cracking down on Fake News posts
I would assume that if I got the Facebook notification on how to spot fake news posts, you have too.
The company has recently launched some tips to users on the most common ways to tell if a news article or post is fake. The internet is rife with these types of posts, and it may be difficult for some users to tell truth from fiction. Facebook urges it’s users to check the date, sources, and readability of the post or article to determine legitimacy.
Facebook is now cracking down on some phony accounts that were made for the sole purpose of distributing fake news in France ahead of their election. According to Shabnam Shaik, Facebook’s technical program manager, they are improving their “effectiveness” and taking “decisive action” against the accounts. That probably means suspending them indefinitely.
Britain and France have been paying more attention to this phenomenon, which was huge before and during the 2016 U.S. presidential election.
Factcheck.org has some excellent information on how to spot fake news.
Here is Mark Zuckerberg’s post on the misinformation phenomenon last year.
Read more about this issue here.