The founder and CEO of Facebook, Mark Zuckerberg, has laid out plans that the social media site seeks to use in fighting against fake news.
Facebook was placed at the center of attention after a number of users complained that Facebook may have had a hand in the US election results due to fake news.
In an early response to the criticism, the founder said that 99 percent of the content on Facebook is genuine but as time went by, he bowed to pressure. He has now come up with a plan that he hopes will help fight against fake news.
He has said that Facebook considers misinterpretation to be a serious offense and that it will use stronger detection and verification methods to filter these out.
The billionaire posted on Facebook saying: “We’ve been working on this problem for a long time and we take this responsibility seriously.”
He went on to note that these problems are rather complex and philosophical in nature and that Facebook had no intention of discouraging the sharing of opinions.
How effective will this be?
Facebook’s new venture into fighting against fake news is an entry into somewhat uncharted territory.
Companies have risen in the past and grown to greater heights but never has any single been this impactful in our lives. Facebook affects what we think, feel, act, buy, fight – whatever.
That calls for a need for us to define what a technology firm does and what we as members of the public are supposed to know.
Gone are the days when Zuckerberg would deny something and expect the public to just take his word for it. For that matter, his global ambitions will entirely be based on his ability to effectively operate as a political astute. The fake news row was a big test, and he handled it poorly – dragging out the issue in the news agenda for well over a week.
Proposals for fighting fake news
According to information provided by Mr. Zuckerberg, Facebook is at the moment developing 7 proposals that he hopes will be used to combat fake news. Among the proposals are plans to ensure stronger detection and verification methods as well as flagging fake content.
As reality dawned that Mr. Trump was winning the US elections, many started to criticize Mr. Zuckerberg, saying that the Republican won due to fake news on Facebook.
But he was quick to dismiss this as “crazy” but the reality is that web advertising has contributed to a rise in fake news.
Fake news purveyors can be enticed away from creating funny satirical content to more believable content because they think it is more likely to be shared.
