Facebook starts third-party fact-checking in India

Image: AFP/Karen Bleier

As part of its commitment to rid its platform of fake news, Facebook has now commenced third-party fact-checking in India.

The social media site’s new program begins in the state of Karnataka, according to a blog post by Facebook on Monday, April 16. They also teamed up with independent digital journalism initiative BOOM to thoroughly fact-check news.

The blog post read: “We have learned that once a story is rated as false, we have been able to reduce its distribution by 80 percent, and thereby improve accuracy of information on Facebook and reduce misinformation.”

Through Facebook’s partnership with BOOM, they will be able to review English-language news articles flagged, rate accuracy and check facts. Facebook added: “We are beginning small and know it is important to learn from this test and listen to our community as we continue to update ways for people to understand what might be false news in their News Feed.”

If an article is identified bearing false information, Facebook will show it lower in its News Feed, thus decreasing the chances of distribution. Meanwhile, pages and domains that repeatedly share fake news will have lesser distribution, and their advertising and monetizing abilities will be removed.

Similarly, Facebook has teamed up with VERA Files and Rappler for third-party fact-checking efforts in the Philippines. JB

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