Facebook To Push Down All Posts of Users in News Feed Who Repeatedly Share Misinformation & Fake Content: Report

New Delhi: Facebook has announced to push down all posts by users who repeatedly share misinformation and fake content across its platforms, as it expands its fact-checking programme to individuals from Pages, Groups, Instagram accounts and domains. The social network said in a statement late on Wednesday that the new rule applies on false or misleading content about Covid-19 and vaccines, climate change, elections or other topics, so that fewer people see misinformation on its family apps. Facebook, Instagram Will Now Let You Hide ‘Like’ Counts From All Posts, Know How To Use This New Feature.

“Starting today, we will reduce the distribution of all posts in News Feed from an individual’s Facebook account if they repeatedly share content that has been rated by one of our fact-checking partners. We already reduce a single post’s reach in News Feed if it has been debunked,” Facebook informed.

The company currently notifies people when they share content that a fact-checker later rates. Now, Facebook has redesigned these notifications to make it easier to understand when this happens. The notification includes the fact-checker’s article debunking the claim as well as a prompt to share the article with their followers. The company launched its fact-checking programme in late 2016.

“It also includes a notice that people who repeatedly share false information may have their posts moved lower in News Feed so other people are less likely to see them,” the social network said. “We’ve taken stronger action against Pages, Groups, Instagram accounts and domains sharing misinformation and now, we’re expanding some of these efforts to include penalties for individual Facebook accounts too,” the company noted.

(The above story first appeared on Today News 24 on May 27, 2021 12:08 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website todaynews24.top).