Facebook fact-checking photos, videos

MANILA, Philippines — Social media giant Facebook has expanded its fact-checking initiative to cover photos and videos shared by users on its platform.

Sara Su, Facebook’s newsfeed product manager, said they have recently piloted fact-checking initiatives in some countries to cover content other than links of articles shared on the social media platform.

“We know that false information is not confined to links. Spammers are very creative, and they are trying all sorts of ways to reach their audience,” she said during a video conference with journalists from the Asia-Pacific region last week.

“We’ve been working to understand how this type of false information spread in terms of images and videos, and we’ve recently launched a test to fact-check photos and videos in a few countries,” she added.

The initiative is expected to be fully rolled out in different countries including the Philippines, where Facebook has tapped two media organizations to conduct fact-checking of links flagged as possible false stories by users.

Su said their test implementation of the photo and video fact-checking project provides them with better understanding on how spammers use the platform.

“The more that we can try these tests across different forms across different countries, the better we can learn about these tactics these spammers use and stay one step ahead,” she said.

Tessa Lyons, also a newsfeed product manager of Facebook, said they conducted research to understand how users interpret claims of facts and opinion on the platform.

“What we’ve seen is that links, globally, and photos and videos – particularly in Asia – carry a degree of authoritativeness and a degree of seeming like the news,” she said.

“People generally interpret text posts to be more opinion-based and less authoritative way of conveying news and information,” she added.

Removing ‘fake news’

According to Lyons, Facebook has recently announced a new policy that would enable them to remove misinformation that threaten the safety and the security of its users.

“Rather than removing misinformation, reducing it strikes the right balance between enabling free expression and promoting a safe and authentic community,” she said.

“But we’ve recognized and learned over the last couple of years that there is a type of misinformation that does threaten the safety and the security of the Facebook community,” she added.

Lyons said the new policy, which they are still working on how to fully implement, is a significant contribution to efforts to counter harmful types of misinformation.

“We think that it is an important additional part of our broader effort and recognition of the fact that in general, while reducing the spread of misinformation strikes the right balance, we also acknowledge that there are instances, contexts and environments where we have a responsibility to go further,” she said.

“Where we are now, we are in fact going further and removing these pieces of content,” added the Facebook official.