Facebook Evicts Fake News

The social media giant is taking the fight to fake news, but will their reforms harm balanced reporting?

By Dan Beedie

 

Propagandists poisoned the information pool during the 2016 election, and it all took place on social media. Many stories and posts on sites like Twitter and Facebook maliciously attacked candidates, politicians and public figures. The line between what was fake and factual had become blurred.

 

So, how do we combat this scourge of fake news on social media?

 

The question is becoming increasingly more relevant, and Facebook believes they have the answer.

 

Last December, Facebook announced a multi-part plan to combat fake news. Under the proposed plan, the social media site would allow third party fact checkers, such as Politifact and FactCheck.org, to diagnose stories that may be inaccurate. Then the ‘Facebook Journalism Project’ was introduced in January of this year. Among other benefits, the project intends to train the public on how to find and identify reliable news sources.

 

“I recognize we have a greater responsibility than just building technology that information flows through,” said Mark Zuckerberg, co-founder of Facebook, noting the demand for more aggressive news policies on his website.

 

Due to the reforms, Facebook acknowledges that it is greatly responsible for a large portion of consumption and distribution of media, and this should be celebrated. However, journalists and the public should not be so eager to hand over the power of deciding what is or is not truthful to a social media site.

 

Let’s not forget, just last year Facebook faced ethical scrutiny for keeping popular conservative news off the ‘Trending News’ sidebar. Those who present the truth must hold a standard of being fair and balanced, and Facebook’s track record hasn’t appeared to meet those standards.

 

Also, for Facebook, getting people to their site to communicate amongst themselves will always be a higher priority than providing factual information. While social media sites and news outlets function in order to make a profit, newspapers and TV news programs are in the fact-providing business, and social media sites are in the public engagement business.

 

Facebook’s campaign against fake news is still in its early stages, but more questions need to be answered. Will Facebook’s fact checkers ask for reporters to release sources to determine their credibility? What about private conversations, will those be fact checked as well? Who, if anyone, will serve as a check against Facebook’s powers to censor news material?

 

Social media sites need to take action against fake news. It is troubling to think that intentionally false news sites affected our election process. However, a pinch of skepticism is necessary when discussing Facebook’s future role in the fact providing business.

 

Lets not give Zuckerberg the keys to the car just yet.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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