Satwik Shukla, Product Manager & Tessa Lyons, Product Manager of Facebook have posted a blog post highlighting new Facebook plans for dealing with pages which repeatedly share false news. We are in a society where fake or false news has become one of the phrases of 2017 and there is becoming more and more pressure on media companies to do something about it.
The post reads:
“Over the past year we have taken several steps to reduce false news and hoaxes on Facebook. Currently, we do not allow advertisers to run ads that link to stories that have been marked false by third-party fact-checking organizations. Now we are taking an additional step. If Pages repeatedly share stories marked as false, these repeat offenders will no longer be allowed to advertise on Facebook.
This update will help to reduce the distribution of false news which will keep Pages that spread false news from making money. We’ve found instances of Pages using Facebook ads to build their audiences in order to distribute false news more broadly. Now, if a Page repeatedly shares stories that have been marked as false by third-party fact-checkers, they will no longer be able to buy ads on Facebook. If Pages stop sharing false news, they may be eligible to start running ads again.
False news is harmful to our community. It makes the world less informed and erodes trust. At Facebook, we’re working to fight the spread of false news in three key areas:
- Disrupting the economic incentives to create false news;
- Building new products to curb the spread of false news; and
- Helping people make more informed decisions when they encounter false news.
Today’s update helps to disrupt the economic incentives and curb the spread of false news, which is another step towards building a more informed community on Facebook.”
It is good to see a media company getting more involved in trying to stop the spread of fake and false news, however I genuinely wonder how this may affect some companies who view themselves as legitimate but who have a habit of utilising opinions as facts. It is important that companies tackle this, as given the many attacks on the press from many sides it is important to know that what you are seeing comes from a legitimate source. An important part of Ethical Marketing is what you state is honest and hopefully this will become more prevalent if advertisers stop being allowed to advertise if they’re not.
