Facebook Will Penalise Users, Pages That Repeatedly Share Misinformation

Social media big Facebook has mentioned that it’ll begin penalising people who repeatedly share misinformation. The firm has launched new warnings that may inform customers that repeatedly sharing misinformation may end result of their posts being moved decrease down in News Feed, decreasing the visibility of such posts for different individuals. Currently, Facebook’s coverage is to down-rank particular person posts carrying misinformation. The posts are debunked by reality checkers. However, posts can go viral lengthy earlier than they’re reviewed by reality checkers, and there wasn’t any measure that might probably demotivate such customers from sharing misinformation. With the brand new change, Facebook will warn customers in regards to the penalties of repeatedly sharing misinformation.

“Whether it’s false or deceptive content material about COVID-19 and vaccines, local weather change, elections or different subjects, we’re ensuring fewer individuals see misinformation on our apps,” Facebook said in a blog post. Pages that are considered repeated offenders by Facebook will include pop-up warnings when new users try to follow them, and individuals who repeatedly share misinformation will receive notifications that their posts will be less visible in News Feed as a result. The notifications will also link to the fact check for the post in question, and give users the opportunity to delete the post. Facebook, however, did not mention how many posts it would take for a user or a page to be considered a “repeated” offender, however the firm already has a ‘strike’ system for pages that share misinformation.