Facebook starts first collaboration with German fact-checking company against fake news

Facebook has taken a number of measures in Germany to prevent the spread of fake news. Just like in the US, it starts a partnership with a fact-checking company. That will assess messages on the social medium.

Facebook reports that the collaboration with the company Correctiv is currently underway. This is an organization that, in its own words, wants to make investigative journalism accessible and adheres to a code of conduct. In the future, other organizations should also start checking facts for Facebook. To enable the fight against fake news, Facebook says it has made reporting posts easier. This can be done with a button at the top right of a message, just like the company had already announced in the US.

The follow-up process is also the same. If Correctiv labels a reported post as false, Facebook users will see a warning with an explanation. When sharing such posts, which may be given a lower priority in News Feed, users will also see a warning. According to Facebook, spammers are responsible for a large part of the fake messages, because they pose as major news sites. The company says it is now no longer possible for spammers to impersonate another site. In addition, Facebook wants to take more measures in the future and introduce the new features in more countries.

The discussion around fake news on Facebook has arisen because during the American elections it was said that this type of reporting would have influenced the outcome of the election. In Germany, this led to plans to fine platforms such as Facebook if they do not remove fake news within a day. In December, the European Commission called on companies to take stricter action against such messages.