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Facebook adds an educational guide to help users learn to spot fake news
Facebook adds an educational guide to help users learn to spot fake news
Looks like Facebook is turning that top space in your
News Feed into something a little more useful than “It’s spring time!”
or “Have a nice day!” In a blog post,
the company said it will be adding alert to an “educational tool” when
users log onto the service, which will provide tips for spotting fake
news. Clicking this leads you to a Help Center page that lays out things
to think about when considering whether what you’re reading is
truthful.
The tips range from vague advice like “think critically”
and “be skeptical,” to more actionable items such as “look closely at
the URL” and “check the author’s sources.” None of the tips advised
against getting your daily source of news from old high school friends
who appear to only exist on social networks.
The new feature appears to be a nice gesture, but also
relies heavily on users to do their own due diligence. Unless the link
to the guide is sitting next to an article that could be considered
suspicious, I’m not sure how many users who weren’t already aware to be
skeptical will think to remember those tips.
For its part, Facebook does appear to be actively
combating the spread of fake news on its platform. It has partnered with
third-party fact-checkers in France and Germany, among other locations, to filter misleading content, and said it would be open to paying fact-checkers.
It also recently launched the option for users to flag fake news to
help algorithms down-rank it from the News Feed, but again, this demands
help from the users themselves.
The new fake news guide is rolling out to users in 14
countries, though Facebook did not specifically name which. The feature
appears to be part of a PSA series the company said it would be doing in partnership with the News Literacy Project.
The article was published on : theverge
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