Facebook continues its efforts to fix Fake News problems. On Monday, the social network announced a new measure targeting Facebook Pages that share fabricated news articles. The company will impose a penalty on page owners by blocking advertisements from their pages and will only retain the ability to run ads upon strict adherence to responsible online journalism. The company's latest crackdown on the fake news will set limitations on one of the major means to fake news spreads. Nowadays, paying to boost ad posts easily and conveniently gets stories reach a wider audience.
Fight the fake
Facebook continues its campaign against fake news by working with outside fact-checkers to flag inaccurate news stories filled with hoaxes and lies. The company established partnerships with Snopes and the AP to improve accuracy and transparency in the News Feed. Now, it wants to restrict Pages from buying any Facebook ads if found guilty of regularly sharing the false news. This penalty is regardless of whether or not the ad has a disputed link.
It can be recalled that the social network giant was involved in an issue last year where they were criticized for helping to spread inaccurate information. According to Product Director Rob Leathern, Facebook has now taken serious measures to fight back.
He enumerated these in three ways with the first being to end the economic incentive to post false news stories. Next is to ensure the slowdown of the spread of such stories. Last is to help people make informed decisions upon recognizing false news.
Categories of false news
A few months ago, a team of threat intelligence members and a security officer from Facebook reported that false news could be utilized for criminal purposes.
Further, they emphasized that fake accounts and even unsuspecting Internet users can prompt the creation of such content. According to them, fake news articles has four categories.
The first category is Information (or Influence) Operations where the government or organized non-state bodies take action. It is aimed at achieving a strategic and political outcome by distorting political sentiments, both domestic and international.
The end goal is to manipulate public opinion.
The second category is False News, which are news articles that may seem factual at the onset. However, upon close and scrutiny, facts have been deliberately misstated to ignite emotion from the readers, attract more viewers, or even worse, to deceive.
False Amplifiers are considered the third category, and it works much like a system. The activity among and across fake accounts is coordinated, and it intends to manipulate political discussion. Also, it blocks specific groups or parties from the discussion.
The fourth and last category is Disinformation, which is the intentional spreading of fabricated information or content. The content can be outright fake or may employ more subtle methods such as inaccurate quotes or stories, feeding biased information, or false flag operations. Unlike misinformation, disinformation involves a malicious intent.
