So now that FB will be tagging “fake news,” I’ll have to question how many will flag the tag of “fake news” if it’s something they do not believe? I mean anyone that reads the National Enquirer knows that the late comic Bill Hicks is really Alex Jones and just playing pranks on us. Right? – PB/TK
Facebook’s fake news tag is here. Who is charged with flagging hoaxes? – Amanda Hoover CS Monitor Staff
—Facebook unveiled its highly anticipated “disputed news” tag Friday, allowing some users to flag stories that appear to contain false information, alerting readers and potentially making them less likely to click through to the content.
Concerns about fake news and its unfettered spread across social media platforms began to dog Facebook after the 2016 election. While the site’s chief executive Mark Zuckerberg first brushed off claims that a lack of editorial oversight at the company contributed to the spread of false information and subsequently President Trump’s victory, he has since taken greater responsibility for the platform’s role in informing voters.
In December, the company announced it would unveil a fact-checking feature that allows users to dispute material they believe is false. Company executives said they planned to focus on the most obvious, intentionally fake reports, attempting to find a balance between preserving free speech and fighting propaganda.
“We believe in giving people a voice and that we cannot become arbiters of truth ourselves, so we’re approaching this problem carefully,” Adam Mosseri, the vice president of Facebook News Feed, wrote in a blog post at the time. “We’ve focused our efforts on the worst of the worst, on the clear hoaxes spread by spammers for their own gain, and on engaging both our community and third party organizations.”
The system relies on users who qualify as fact-checkers after signing onto a list of principles codified by the journalism nonprofit Poytner. These users can flag single stories, rather than entire sources, as fraudulent. Links to vetted debunkers, such as Politifact and Snopes, that analyze claims and arrive at conclusions regarding their validity then appear beneath the post. So users can still see and access flagged stories shared by their friends, but they will get a warning before clicking through.
Continue to csmonitor.com article: http://www.csmonitor.com/Technology/2017/0306/Facebook-s-fake-news-tag-is-here.-Who-is-charged-with-flagging-hoaxes
