Not too long ago, Mark Zuckerberg had dismissed reports of ‘fake news’ on Facebook by saying that it would constitute a fraction of the content on the platform. But on Monday, Facebook ironically launched an advertisement campaign in British newspapers to alert Facebook users about fake news.
Earlier, Facebook had issued similar advertisements in Germany and France. The social media platform has admitted for the first time that it had taken out thousands of fake Facebook accounts in the United Kingdom (UK) alone.
While the campaign comes in the wake of allegations that ‘fake news’ on social media influenced Donald Trump’s election in the US and the referendum on ‘Brexit’, Facebook has not yet acknowledged the role of fake news on Facebook influencing electoral outcomes in India, or in other countries.
The Facebook campaign also comes ahead of the snap poll in England, a month from now, and the election in Germany later this year.
Facebook is calling upon users to watch out for fake news and listed 10 precautions that users can take:
The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) reported that a Facebook spokesman confirmed that the social media platform had hired the services of third party fact-checkers, also in a bid to stem the tide of fake news. It is already watching out for repeated postings of the same content and sharp increase in messaging, the spokesman said.
The advertisement campaign in the UK came hours before a BBC investigation was to be aired on Monday. The BBC programme was about the role and effect of the social network in the US presidential election and the Brexit referendum.
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