Facebook ends fake news alert as it has the opposite effect

FACEBOOK has scrapped its fake news alerts after discovering they made fabricated media reports appear more believable to its users.

The social network began showing “disputed” warnings next to articles earlier this month to alert people that third-party fact-checking websites had deemed the material misleading.

Instead, it will now show a selection of “related articles” next to offending stories. These will give more context and could help people learn the facts surrounding a situation through reputable media publications.

Facebook’s research suggested that users would believe fake news even if it was flagged as incorrect or misleading. Those with “related articles” next to it were shared fewer times than those highlighted with a red flag.

“Academic research on correcting misinformation has shown that putting a strong image, like a red flag, next to an article may actually entrench deeply held beliefs – the opposite effect to what we intended,” Facebook product manager Tessa Lyons confessed in a post yesterday.

Last year, Mark Zuckerberg, Facebook’s founder, dismissed the idea that fake news on the site contributed to the US election result. One year later the site admitted 126 million Americans may have seen fake content posted by Russia-based agitators.

“False news undermines the unique value that Facebook offers,” Lyons wrote. “Overall, we’re making progress. Demoting false news is one of our best weapons because demoted articles typically lose 80 per cent of their traffic.

“This destroys the economic incentives spammers and troll farms have to generate these articles in the first place.”