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Facebook Begins 'Fact-Checking' Photos, Videos (reuters.com)

Posted by BeauHD on from the it's-about-time dept.

Facebook said today that it had begun "fact-checking" photos and videos to reduce the hoaxes and false news stories that have plagued the world's largest social media network. Reuters reports: The fact-checking began on Wednesday in France with assistance from the news organization AFP and will soon expand to more countries and partners, Tessa Lyons, a product manager at Facebook, said in a briefing with reporters. Lyons did not say what criteria Facebook or AFP would use to evaluate photos and videos, or how much a photo could be edited or doctored before it is ruled fake. The project is part of "efforts to fight false news around elections," she said. Facebook has tried other ways to stem the spread of fake news. It has used third-party fact-checkers to identify them, and then given such stories less prominence in the Facebook News Feed when people share links to them.

8 of 123 comments (clear)

  1. Fact checking by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    So, that means Conservative news will be eliminated & Liberal lies will be emphasized. Got it!

    1. Re:Fact checking by AHuxley · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Post a funny cartoon about results of mass illegal immigration into the EU and France will have the cartoon banned.
      The EU artist will be found and interviewed by police about the cartoon.
      A checksum of the funny cartoon will ensure it is removed when anyone attempts to upload it again.
      Attempts to upload the image again will result in more police interviews.
      Image matching software will move any altered version of the same art.
      Attempts to create another version of the same cartoon will result in more police interviews.
      No making fun of the results of EU politics in France.

      French politics is now safe from all types of online cartoons questioning EU and French politics.

      --
      Domestic spying is now "Benign Information Gathering"
    2. Re:Fact checking by ckatko · · Score: 5, Insightful

      I'm blown away that Slashdotters are fine giving Facebook, a multi-billion dollar corporation, the benefit-of-the-doubt regarding their ability to regulate and censor "effectively and fairly."

      But literally the SAME FRONT PAGE they're out for blood over Facebook (THE SAME COMPANY) over their data collection and selling practices.

      If we can't trust them to not sell our data to ENEMY COUNTRIES, then how can we trust them to regulate and censor "non-facts"?

  2. Here's an idea... by zieroh · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Here's an idea: shut down fucking FaceBook. That should put a big dent in the spread of fake news.

    --
    People who say "sheeple" have about as much sophistication as an AOL user, and in fact are probably actually AOL users.
  3. I have an idea by Archon · · Score: 5, Insightful

    I know I know, it may sound really out there: don't form your voting decisions based on what you see on Facebook? It's an ad platform, not journalism.

  4. Re: Fact check photos? by c6gunner · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Don't kid yourself; they had all of that information before your plane left the ground.

  5. Past tense; it's already happening in Holland by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative

    Getting arrested over satirical cartoon
    http://www.dw.com/en/dutch-cartoonist-arrested-released-for-anti-muslim-drawings/a-3340581

  6. Re:Conservatism, (n.) by Applehu+Akbar · · Score: 4, Informative

    Liberalism, (n.)

    In present-day US politics, the marginalized academic cult whose members would hate Franklin Roosevelt and all his works were he to reappear among today's Democrats.