Facebook will list information sources to the degree of reliability attributed by social network users, the group announced on Friday. This is more proof of their fight against “fake news”.
“I have asked our teams to make sure we prioritise information which is reliable, truly informative and local”, Mark Zuckerberg wrote on his personal page.
But he has also asked himself how they could decide which sources of information were reliable, adding he had decided to ask users themselves.
“We will now ask users if they know a source that is publishing information. If they do, we will ask if they trust it. The idea is that some media sources are only considered reliable by their readers or audience, while others are trusted by everyone, even by those who don’t follow them directly”, explains Mr Zuckerberg.
Depending on the results, publications by papers considered as reliable will be more visible on the newsfeed.
“This update will not change the amount of information you see on Facebook. It will only switch the balance of information in favour of sources that are considered reliable by the community”, says Mr Zuckerberg.
This new announcement comes a week after another Facebook measure that was announced on Thursday. It intends to reduce the presence of brands and media on its newsfeed.
The group has been criticised for not doing enough to combat fake news on the network over the last few months. Facebook currently has two billion active users.
(Source: Belga)
