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Facebook Goes After Fake News With New Reporting Tools

Facebook is now working with third-party fact checking organizations to flag fake news stories.

 & Angela Moscaritolo Managing Editor, Consumer Electronics

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Facebook on Thursday outlined some of the first steps it's taking to fight fake news on the platform, which some believe swayed the US presidential election.

As Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg teased last month, the social network is now testing several ways to make it easier to report hoaxes you see in your feed. Facebook is also now working with third-party fact-checking organizations to flag fake news.

Now, when you go to report a post (by clicking the upper right-hand corner) there's a new option for "It's a fake news story," alongside the existing options: "It's annoying or not interesting," "I think it shouldn't be on Facebook," and "It's spam."

"We'll use the reports from our community, along with other signals, to send stories to these [fact checking] organizations," Facebook's New Feed Vice President Adam Mosseri explained in a blog post. "If the fact checking organizations identify a story as fake, it will get flagged as disputed and there will be a link to the corresponding article explaining why."

Stories identified as fake news may show up lower in people's feed and with a warning. Facebook is still letting people share fake news, but will warn them that the story was "disputed by 3rd party fact-checkers." Flagged stories can no longer be turned into ads or promoted.

On top of that, Facebook is starting to take into account whether reading a story makes people "significantly less likely to share it" — a signal that the story may have misled people. If that's the case, stories may be ranked lower in people's News Feeds.

Finally, Facebook is doing several things to disrupt financial incentives for spammers.

"Spammers make money by masquerading as well-known news organizations, and posting hoaxes that get people to visit to their sites, which are often mostly ads," Mosseri wrote. "On the buying side we've eliminated the ability to spoof domains, which will reduce the prevalence of sites that pretend to be real publications. On the publisher side, we are analyzing publisher sites to detect where policy enforcement actions might be necessary."

The effort comes after President Obama last month singled out fake news stories appearing on social media sites as a serious problem facing American democracy. Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg has repeatedly denied that the spread of misinformation on his social network influenced the election.

About Our Expert

Angela Moscaritolo

Angela Moscaritolo

Managing Editor, Consumer Electronics

My Experience

I'm PCMag's managing editor for consumer electronics, overseeing an experienced team of analysts covering smart home, home entertainment, wearables, fitness and health tech, and various other product categories. I have been with PCMag for more than 10 years, and in that time have written more than 6,000 articles and reviews for the site. I previously served as an analyst focused on smart home and wearable devices, and before that I was a reporter covering consumer tech news. I'm also a yoga instructor, and have been actively teaching group and private classes for nearly a decade. 

Prior to joining PCMag, I was a reporter for SC Magazine, focusing on hackers and computer security. I earned a BS in journalism from West Virginia University, and started my career writing for newspapers in New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and West Virginia.

The Technology I Use

My little Florida beach bungalow is brimming with smart home tech. I have a smart speaker or display in every room, allowing me to control other connected devices by voice. The Nest Hub on my bedside table lets me set wake-up alarms, control my smart light bulbs, and set the temperature on my smart thermostat. I use the Amazon Echo Show 8 on my kitchen counter to browse recipes, reorder protein powder, check the weather, and watch the news while I do dishes. 

Because I suffer from allergies, air purifiers are essential. My favorite model is the Dyson Purifier Cool TP07, which doubles as a fan and continuously sends indoor pollution data to its companion mobile app. 

My pitbull Bradley sheds, so a good robot vacuum is a must. I currently use a premium Ecovacs Deebot that can both vacuum and mop, empty its own dustbin, and wash its own mop cloth. 

For fitness, I like to mix up my routine with cycling, indoor rowing, running, and strength training in addition to yoga. I take classes on the Tonal 2 smart strength training machine, I row indoors on an Aviron machine, and track my beach runs with an Apple Watch while listening to music on my Apple AirPods Pro. On the weekends, I love riding e-bikes like the rugged, beach-friendly Aventon Aventure for fun and fitness.

My job involves a lot of virtual meetings, so a quality webcam, microphone, and ring light are important. I use the Jabra PanaCast 20 webcam, the Elgato Wave: 3 microphone, and a Yesker tripod ring light. 

As for my preferred phone platform, I'm an iPhone person, but I've also extensively used Android for product testing.

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