Fake news was a big topic in 2017 and it is still a major problem in 2018. Since such content is spread on websites like Facebook, it has become paramount to curb the spread of such content.
Facebook had made some steps last year in the fight against fake news like blocking ads from Pages that share them or rollin gout a tool that would help people spot them. This time round they are going on a whole new level and it is the current buzzword: artificial intelligence.
The company says that there are more than a billion pieces of content that are posted on their network every day and they can’t be reviewed one by now. They will now use machine learning to identify duplicates of debunked stories.
They will also use machine learning to identify and demote foreign Pages that are likely to spread financially motivated fake news items in other countries. Back then, they used ratings from fact checkers to identify them and went on to reduce their ability to monetize.
In addition to the use of machine learning to combat fake news, Facebook is also using real people in the offence. They are expanding their fact checking program to new countries (14 according to Facebook) where these independent fact checkers rate the accuracy of stories and apparently they are 80% efficient.
Facebook also has extended their fake news fight to photos and videos in four countries so as to identify edited videos and photos that are taken out of context.
These moves could be all the offence Facebook needs in the fight against fake news and we’ll have to wait and see how effective they would be.
