Facebook Dumps disputed Flags on Fake News

Facebook, the tech giant has announced a change to system it started earlier this year to try to control the spread of fake news on the site. Facebook Dumps disputed Flags on Fake News

The change will be helpful to stop the spread of fake news. The new change is made to the News Feed. Users will no longer see “Disputed Flags,” or red badges displayed under articles. Now, the users will be able to see Related Articles and links to content from publishers.

Facebook Dumps disputed Flags on Fake News

The reason behind the changing of response to fake news as mentioned by Facebook is that academic research has shown that marking a story as false may “entrench deeply held beliefs”.

Facebook along with Twitter Inc. and Google’s YouTube are currently under pressure and has been criticized for letting misinformation spread across their platforms. Including articles by “troll farms” that spread misinformation to make a profit. The company has altered its algorithm for the news feed to punish sites which spread fake news.

Third-party fact checkers like PoltiFacts and Snopes has worked with Facebook to mark stories as disputed, but the process was slow and only scratched the surface of fake content. The executive director of PolitiFact Aaron Sharockman has confirmed that the Facebook is only changing how our work is displayed to the end users. However organization’s partnership will continue.

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