‘FB has started thirdparty factchecking to curb fake news’
ALEX HARDIMAN, head, news products, Facebook
NEWDELHI: Alex Hardiman leads news products at Facebook Inc. In this role, she oversees consumer news experiences for Facebook’s two billion monthly users. Hardiman, who was on her first visit to India last week as a speaker at the Hindustan Times Leadership Summit, talks about ways to curb fake news and India investments. Edited excerpts from an interview:
How is Facebook trying to curb fake news?
Restoring trust and credibility to news on Facebook is one of our biggest priorities. There is a lot that we are doing to make sure that we eradicate any false news or misinformation on Facebook.
One of the first things we have done is remove any financial incentives. We have also done a lot to make sure we can quickly identify and remove fake accounts . ... We have also started third-party fact-checking.
When do you plan to bring thirdparty factchecking to India?
Part of the reason why I’m here and why we have an expanding and really robust team in India is to understand the local context. We’re starting to research what options we might have and as soon as we have a plan, we’ll share it.
What are the areas of investment for Facebook in India?
India is one of our most important markets, with 217 million people using it every single month. Disaster maps is an instance of an India-specific product—what can we do to make sure that when any natural disaster happens, the volume of people who have checked in safely is very clearly mapped out. That humanitarian organisations or government organisations have access to that data and really understand the dynamics on the ground.
Where is the business of news headed?
I think that the future of news on Facebook is a really great intersection of high quality content that is trustworthy, informative; content that is not polarising, and that can come together to bring people around a really productive conversation.