Australian Associated Press (AAP) has partnered with Facebook to extend fact-checking and combat the spread of misinformation.
AAP has been trialling its independent FactCheck arm during the State and Federal elections this year and has now committed to running the service full-time.
AAP partnered with Facebook to deliver the service, which scrutinises statements presented as facts.
It will also keep a close eye on any potential misinformation circling on social media.
“AAP FactCheck has always been committed to improving accuracy and accountability in public debate. Now we are applying that standard to a whole new content set, reaching more people than ever before,” said the unit’s editor and former senior writer for AAP’s National Bureau, Peter Trute.
Facebook already uses a combination of machine learning, human review and community reporting to help identify potentially problematic content for review by third-party fact-checking partners across the globe.
AAP FactCheck focuses on the veracity of the content most relevant to Australians, and after arriving at an evidence-based verdict, applies one of nine designated ratings.
A false, misleading or mixed rating will result in that content being paired with the relevant AAP FactCheck article and reduced in Facebook’s News Feed.
People who try to share the problematic content, or who have previously shared it, are also notified of the factcheck outcome.
It is yet another effort by Facebook to address the problem of fake news on its various platforms.
In the USA, Facebook is currently hiring experienced journalists to curate the news tab on the site.
The editorial team will be given the responsibility of choosing the most relevant national news stories of the day to be shared with users in the soon-to-be-introduced news section.
The journalists will order top stories and share breaking news, however, they will not be responsible for writing headlines or news content.
Some of the articles will still be decided upon by algorithms.
