What is happening in the journalism world is one thing. Coincidentally, what is transpiring on social media is a serious matter. To combat the proliferation of Fake News, Facebook on Monday rolled out a fact-checking tool that would identify and dispute the validity of stories published on its platform, according to RedOrbit.
Back in December the social network announced it would partner up with third-party fact checkers. Those partners that will be going through the process of cracking down on fake news include the Associate Press (AP) Snopes, ABC News, Politifact and FactCheck.org.
What marked the presence and arrival of false news was the American election. A Washington Post reported that a site known as 70News published a false analysis that declared Donald Trump had won the popular vote against Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton.
A percentage of Americans have shared a made-up news Story
Once the election in the United States (U.S) had wrapped up it was obvious something had fundamentally changed. Former President Barack Obama along with Pope Francis stressed the concerns about the fake news, and how it could have serious consequences.
A study published by the Pew Research Center (PRC) confirmed that 23 percent of Americans shared a made-up News Story. Specifically, 64 percent or two-in-three U.S adults said fake news cause a lot of confusion around facts related to current issues and events.
Despite the growing presence of false news there is still optimism. In the same study 39 percent of Americans expressed confidence in being able to detect fabricated news.
In sharp contrast to the previous findings, about a third of U.S adults (32 percent) say they often see fake political news reports while 39 percent confirmed to sometimes coming across these stories, conforming to PRC.
Takeaways
The fake news trend is definitely a cause for concern. In spite of these latest measures to combat the outbreak of false news reports more mitigation is needed.
As we witnessed the surge of fake news during the American election it is paramount to safeguard the freedom of access to information and the fourth estate. If we undermine the role of the press and consider it fake societies will greatly suffer the consequences.
