Facebook has a fake news problem and one of the ways that they’re trying to combat this is by introducing tools to help educate users in spotting fake news articles, or at least articles that might have come from disputed sources. For those looking for these tools, you’ll be pleased to learn that Facebook has rolled out its news verification tool in the US today.For those unfamiliar with this tool, it was in testing since 2017 where instead of outright suggesting that an article might be in dispute, Facebook will provide more background information about the article, its source, and where it might have been shared to give users more context about what they are reading.
According to Facebook, “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.”
Facebook will also show more “Shared by friends” information where it will let users know if any of their friends have shared the same article. For example if you have a friend who is known to share legit information, then perhaps it can also be used as a measure of how true the article is. Also note that as it stands the feature is only available in the US and there is no word on when it will find its way to other markets.
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