Facebook Shows Related Articles and Fact Checkers Before You Open Links (techcrunch.com)

An anonymous reader quotes a report from TechCrunch: Facebook wants you to think about whether a headline is true and see other perspectives on the topic before you even read the article. In its next step against fake news, Facebook today begins testing a different version of its Related Articles widget that normally appears when you return to the News Feed after opening a link. Now Facebook will also show Related Articles including third-party fact checkers before you read an article about a topic that many people are discussing. If you saw a link saying "Chocolate cures cancer!" from a little-known blog, the Related Article box might appear before you click to show links from the New York Times or a medical journal noting that while chocolate has antioxidants that can lower your risk for cancer, it's not a cure. If an outside fact checker like Snopes had debunked the original post, that could appear in Related Articles too. Facebook says this is just a test, so it won't necessarily roll out to everyone unless it proves useful. It notes that Facebook Pages should not see a significant change in the reach of their News Feed posts. There will be no ads surfaced in Related Articles.

Comments

The Ministry of Truth

[thesjaakspoiler]

Also eagerly supported by the WaPo, WSJ and other verified news sources.

Re:The Ministry of Truth

[JoshuaZ]

The WSJ is right-wing and has a wildly different editorial slant than the Washington Post. If you've decided that the problem is with both the WSJ and WaPo, then the problem is most likely on your end, not theirs.

Re:MSNBC verified

[Anonymous Coward]

Could they just kill clickbait articles while they're at it? Click here to find out.