Determining facts over the Internet can be really hard. This is the same reason that pushed the Facebook to develop several initiatives that are designed to promote authentic, fact-based journalism. As of this writing, company is rolling out its latest feature called “trust indicator” which is an icon that users can tap to learn more about the publisher of articles shared on the social media platform.
Aside from basic information, the trust indicator also shows the publisher’s policies on ethics, fact-checking, and corrections, as well as their ownership structure and their masthead. It is set to begin with a small group of publishers first and will be expanded in the future.
“We believe that helping people access this important contextual information can help them evaluate if articles are from a publisher they trust, and if the story itself is credible. This step is part of our larger efforts to combat false news and misinformation on Facebook — providing people with more context to help them make more informed decisions, advance news literacy and education, and working to reinforce indicators of publisher integrity on our platform.”, said by a Facebook’s representative.
The introduction of trust indicators follows a move last month to introduce other contextual information into shared articles, including a basic description of the publisher, and other articles about the subject. The Trust Project, an international consortium of news organizations hosted by Santa Clara University, initiates the development of this new feature together with Facebook.
Source: The Verge
Facebook Introduce an Indicator for News-Worthy Articles
