Facebook adds location of posts to curb state-led manipulation

Facebook said Wednesday it would include the location of postings from some “high-reach” accounts in a stepped-up effort to boost transparency and curb state-sponsored election manipulation efforts.

The move adds to efforts made by the leading social network to give users more context and information about messages aimed at influencing politics and comes following a massive foreign influence campaign in the 2016 US election on social media.

Facebook said that from 2018 it began offering information about people managing a page on Facebook and Instagram and where they are located.

“Today, we’re going a step further to provide the location of high-reach Facebook pages and Instagram accounts on every post they share, so people have more information to help them gauge the reliability and authenticity of the content they see in their feeds,” said a blog post from the Facebook and Instagram product managers.

“These changes are part of our broader efforts to protect elections and increase transparency on Facebook and Instagram so people can make more informed decisions about the posts they read, trust and share.”

The new feature will be tested in the United States initially and will focus on posts made from outside the country.

Facebook and other social networks have been struggling to root out “inauthentic” content, including messages that appear to be from a local political entity but are in fact from foreign actors.

Both Facebook and Twitter have blocked state-linked accounts operated in Russia, China, Iran and elsewhere for posting under false pretenses.