Facebook to Boost ‘Trustworthy’ News

Trump supporters around the world will be overjoyed to know that Facebook has announced it will be prioritising news sources deemed to be more trustworthy on its site, quelling the spread of so-called fake news.

Through the use of surveys, Facebook will determine which outlets are reliable, and which should not be promoted on its newsfeed.

Writing on his Facebook page, Mark Zuckerberg said:

There’s too much sensationalism, misinformation and polarization in the world today. Social media enables people to spread information faster than ever before, and if we don’t specifically tackle these problems, then we end up amplifying them. That’s why it’s important that News Feed promotes high quality news that helps build a sense of common ground.

As part of our ongoing quality surveys, we will now ask people whether they’re familiar with a news source and, if so, whether they trust that source. The idea is that some news organizations are only trusted by their readers or watchers, and others are broadly trusted across society even by those who don’t follow them directly. (We eliminate from the sample those who aren’t familiar with a source, so the output is a ratio of those who trust the source to those who are familiar with it.)

This idea will first be tested on US users, and results of the survey will not be made public.

Though Zuckerberg claims that this will ensure that all news boosted on the site is ‘from high quality and trusted sources,’ it’s likely that traditional media organisations, such as the BBC, and the New York Times, will be promoted over newer, specialist sites. It will be interesting to see what happens!

Is this a good idea? Or, is it a step in the wrong direction? Let us know in the comments below!

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