Facebook just made it harder for you to share fake news

Mark Molloy 20 March 2017 • 5:06pm

Facebook fake news update — Fake news: Facebook tests new 'fact checker' tool Credit: Bloomberg

Facebook has started to roll out a new tool in its war against fake news which facts check the stories you post, although it doesn’t yet appear for everyone.

Mark Zuckerberg vowed to tackle the fake news controversy after the social media site was criticised for becoming a breeding ground for the spreading of misinformation.

Some Facebook users in the United States have reported seeing a pop-up window appear when an article is disputed by third-party fact checkers.

Media reporter John Ourand tweeted: “Facebook's war on fake news starts with a pop up window for re-posters of bad info.”

Facebook's war on fake news starts with a pop up window for re-posters of bad info. pic.twitter.com/qpPXZjLL3u
— John Ourand (@Ourand_SBJ) March 19, 2017

@kegill I can't answer why you didn't, Kathy. It appears others got the same message I did: https://t.co/Ives0hlBcL
— John Ourand (@Ourand_SBJ) March 19, 2017

Trump supporters & others are losing their minds that Facebook is now showing this warning when they share a certain "Irish slaves" article pic.twitter.com/fzeU8ZOzjb
— Liam Hogan (@Limerick1914) March 19, 2017

The pop-up says: “Disputed by multiple, independent fact-checkers.

“Before you share this content, you might want to know that the fact-checking sites, Snopes.com and Associated Press disputed its accuracy.”

It pops up for some users, depending on their location, on a story about a debunked conspiracy theory about a so-called “Irish slave trade” – which never existed.

According to Quartz, the AP link explains: “The false articles, trending on social media as Ireland’s national holiday approaches, typically reprint entire sections for a comprehensively debunked 2008 column posted on a website that promotes conspiracy theories.”

However, it does not yet appear to have been rolled out to Facebook users in the UK.

Facebook announced in December it would be flagging stories as disputed, with the aim of “providing more context [to] help people decide for themselves what to trust and what to share”.

“We’ll use the reports from our community, along with other signals, to send stories to these organisations,” Facebook said.

“If the fact checking organisations identify a story as fake, it will get flagged as disputed and there will be a link to the corresponding article explaining why. Stories that have been disputed may also appear lower in News Feed.”

What is fake news? Here's everything you need to know.