Facebook, Fact-Checking, and Fake News!

Fake News. It’s a phrase that’s been thrown around a lot on social media, especially during this past election. But what does it mean, really? Fake news can be defined as, a type of yellow journalism or propaganda that consists of deliberate misinformation or hoaxes spread via traditional print and broadcast news media or online social media.

Facebook can be a cesspool of fake news articles. I’m sure you’ve seen articles along the lines of, “Hillary Clinton Orders the Execution of Donald Trump’s Daughter,” from a website with a name like “FreedomEagleSoldier.com,” or an article like this one from “News Bible Report,” claiming Sasha Obama had been shot and killed. These articles are clearly ludicrous and the thought that someone could believe it is borderline hilarious.

Unfortunately, these articles can do some real damage. Propaganda and fake news during the 2016 election had such a profound impact that it outperformed real news. Facebook received a considerable amount of backlash because of this to the point where they needed to do something to combat it. Now, if you see an article you believe is fake, you have the option to report it. If enough people report it as fake, it gets sent to a fact-checking organization like Snopes or Politifact. Once determined that it is indeed fake, the article shows up on Facebook with a red banner saying, “Disputed by Third-Party Fact Checkers.”

In some instances, these precautions don’t have the desired effect. Usually fake news stories don’t get branded as fake until after they go viral and the damage has been done. Certain groups see that Facebook flagged a particular story and say, “Hey, they’re trying to censor us! Share this!” This is what happened with Christian Winthrop’s false story that claimed hundreds of thousands of Irish people were brought to the US as slaves. By saying, “Don’t share this, it’s fake news,” it had the opposite effect.

 A number of technologists, academics, and media experts have pitched ideas to Facebook to help them with their fake news problem. Some ideas include verifying news pages, sort of like how Twitter uses a blue checkmark for verified celebrity accounts; sharer reputation ranking which takes into account the types of articles a person shares; and connecting fake news to fact-checking sites, so that when you click a link to a false story, it can also open a page debunking it.

Even with all of these modifications, some think that the more Facebook tries to debunk a story, the more people will still decide to believe it. So, the question remains: How can we get people to agree with facts when the fact in question doesn’t fit how they want to view the world?

Written by Alexia Amato of Rebecca Adele PR & Events