Facebook Opens Another War Room To Combat Fake News

Ahead of European Parliament Elections Facebook opens war room to combat fake news.

Why is Facebook taking this step?

After last year’s Cambridge Analytica scandal, Facebook has faced a lot of pressure due to which ahead of European Parliament elections Facebook has sworn to protect the integrity of the upcoming election. This step will ensure that the platform is not used to stop elections from being conducted fairly.

What Facebook has to say?

“Learning from every election over the last two years, we have increased our capabilities to take down fake accounts, reduce false news, increase ads transparency, disrupt bad actors and support an informed and engaged electorate,” Anika Geisel, who leads the company’s public policy for elections in Europe, said in a blog post on Monday.

“Advertisers will need to be authorized before purchasing political ads and far more information about the ads themselves will be made available for people to see,” Geisel explained.

“To run electoral ads or ads about highly debated and important issues related to the European Parliament Elections, advertisers will be required to confirm their identity and include additional information about who is responsible for their ads.”

What will Facebook actually do?

In late March to prevent foreign interference, Facebook will launch new tools to make political advertisement transparent.

Will these tools completely prevent abuse?

These tools will not completely stop abuse but will surely provide a higher level of transparency which is good for the electoral process.

How Facebook will handle fake handle?

To handle fake news, Facebook has introduced a three-step approach, this includes:

• Removing of content that violates brand’s community standards.
• Will reduce story distribution that may undermine the authenticity of the platform.
• Will give more context to people on the information they see.

Moreover, Facebook will run a fast checker program in 16 languages to check content. If a content rates false, then it will be down-ranked in News Feed to reduce its distribution.