The marking of FB fake news caused an opposite effect

In 2017, we wrote intensely about the effects of social media channels in the fight against fake news. As an example, we brought out a Facebook initiative that allowed users to challenge the truthfulness of the stories in news feeds, after which a red exclamation mark was added by the center. A letter saying that factual examiner A and B challenged the story was also added.

To date, the marking of such questionable news stories has ended because one study called in the effectiveness of such methods, while another pointed out that this type of action against the news stories only affirmed the belief of the story to readers.

A Yale University study found that the method, in which the inappropriate news was marked, constituted an increase of only 3.7 percent of people doubting the content of the news.

Another study however indicated that news marked with flags or exclamation marks had significantly greater impact on readers and it helped embed the content of the story in the readers mind. This means that in marking suspicious news, Facebook contributed to the increase of the influence of fake news.

To date, the marking of suspicious stories with an exclamation mark has ended and news related items related to the topic would be added to similar articles, which provides additional background to the original news stories.

Also there are rumors about Facebook that the centre plans to make it a prerequisite for the person, that they open the story and read it, prior to re-distributing it. Whether this information is true and the plan comes to reality, only time will tell.

Source of photo: Facebook