Facebook rolls out news verification tools to everyone in the US
These are the latest tools in the fight against fake news.
Facebook has been fighting fake news for a while now, ranking "trusted" sources and demoting "engagement bait" stories. Last October, the company began testing a feature that provided information on article publishers to help people decide which sources were worth reading, trusting and sharing. Now the company is set to roll this out to everyone in the US, along with two more options to give you more context when you see a story in your news feed.
Facebook says that its research has shown that people can evaluate the credibility of articles online. "Based on this research," wrote the company in a blog post, "we're making it easy for people to view context about an article, including the publisher's Wikipedia entry, related articles on the same topic, information about how many times the article has been shared on Facebook, where it is has been shared, as well as an option to follow the publisher's page." If the publisher doesn't have a Wikipedia entry, Facebook will say so, which can be valuable information, as well.
You'll also start seeing "More From This Publisher" and "Shared By Friends." The former will give you a quick look at other stories recently published by that source while the latter will show which of your friends have shared the article you're reading. Facebook is continuing to test what information is needed to help people evaluate the credibility of articles, too. Folks in the testing group will see even more info, like the description from the author's Wikipedia entry, a button to follow their Page or Profile, and other articles they've published recently.
The team says that it designed these new features using feedback and input from a diverse set of people and publishers, including those in the Facebook Journalism Project. The company promises to improve this experience in the future and provide even more helpful context about the news on Facebook.
