Facebook says it will penalize people who share a misinformation several times. The company has introduced new warnings that will inform users who will repeatedly share false statements could lead to “their posted positions more and lower in news flows so that other people are less likely to see them”.
So far, the company’s policy has experienced individual positions on the lowlands that are demystified by information ladies. But positions can go viral well before being examined by information ladies and there was little incentive to users not to share these messages in the first place. With the change, Facebook says it will warn users of the consequences to share misinformation repeatedly.
The pages that are considered repeated offenders will include contextual warnings when new users are trying to follow them and people who systematically share disinformation will receive notifications that their positions may be less visible in news flows. Notifications will also link the facts for the position in question and give users the ability to remove the position.
The update arrives after a year when Facebook struggled to control viral misinformation on the coronavirus pandemic, presidential elections and COVID-19 vaccines. “Whether false or misleading content on COVID-19 and vaccines, climate change, elections or other topics, we make sure fewer people see a misinformation about our applications,” wrote The company in a blog article.
Facebook did not indicate how many messages that it would be necessary to trigger the reduction of the news flow, but the company used a similar “strike” system for the pages sharing the misinformation. (This policy has been a source of controversy after the reports that Facebook officials have removed “strikes” popular conservative pages last year.)
Researchers who study disinformation emphasized that it is often the same individuals behind the most viral false. For example, a recent report from the digital hate center revealed that the vast majority of anti-vaccination disinformation was linked to only 12 people.
