Facebook Tags Fake News as 'Disputed Content'
We actually think this is pretty cool.
Rather than censor (i.e., invisibly judge and unaccountably remove from behind the scenes) "fake" content, Facebook let's it run free BUT labels the content as disputed and points a link to the reputable source that's disputing the content. That's awesome!
It means the person who is about to embarrass themselves gets to pause and ask...
Do I really want to share this?
...and that's a GREAT thing to do for humanity. Thank you Facebook.
Secondly, doing it this way actually teaches people what fake stuff looks like AND shows them where to go to check it out. So far we know that Facebook links to Snopes, Politifact and Associated Press as their "trusted" 3rd party sources.
Here's how it works. When someone tries to share a disputed story they’ll see a warning message that reads something like this:
If the dunderhead ...uh, adorable, lovable person insists on spreading the disputed content anyway, their message will contain a warning icon and a notice, which links to the site that disputes the content. It looks like this...
It's great that they can learn why the content is disputed and see who disputed it. This also means that, at least theoretically, a mistake can be corrected if in fact the dispute is in error.
Kudos to Facebook. If they can't fix stupid, at least they can stamp it with a warning.
