Facebook’s latest crackdown on fake news polls users over ‘misleading language’

IS FACEBOOK news fake? The social network is asking its users to judge articles rather than verifying the source of the information.

Facebook is testing a new anti-clickbait strategy that asks users to vote on headlines. Picture: Justin Tallis/AFP

THE WORLD’S biggest social network appears to have launched a new crackdown on fake news, polling users about potentially “misleading language” in news headlines published on the site.

Facebook’s efforts follow a torrent of criticism over fraudulent news articles which may have played a part in Donald Trump’s US presidential victory, with many stories incorrectly blaming crimes on his rival, Hillary Clinton.

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The new system, rolled out to Facebook users in limited numbers to date, does not verify news sources like Twitter and Snapchat, but instead polls users on a story’s headline.

Facebook is asking some users about headlines in news articles in a crackdown on fake news.

A survey appears beneath the article, asking “to what extent do you think that this link’s title uses misleading language?” and inviting a response from “not at all” to “completely”.

While the new system is not yet in widespread use, it has been seen beneath articles published by Rolling Stone magazine, the Philadelphia Inquirer, and UK comedy site Chortle.

A Facebook spokesman said the social network had not changed how it ranked news articles, though regularly asked its users for feedback.

It is not yet clear how Facebook will use information gathered in the surveys, or whether publishers will be given the right to appeal malicious use of the new tool.

Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg last month responded to criticism of fake news found on the site, and indicated it would do more in relation to identifying the hoaxes.

“Of all the content on Facebook, more than 99 per cent of what people see is authentic. Only a very small amount is fake news and hoaxes,” he said.

“We have already launched work enabling our community to flag hoaxes and fake news, and there is more we can do here.”

Originally published as Facebook’s latest crackdown on fake news polls users over ‘misleading language’