Since the outbreak of its fake news crisis last year, Facebook has proclaimed several initiatives designed to promote authentic, fact-based journalism. Today, the corporate is rolling out its latest: what Facebook calls a “trust indicators,” an icon that you just will tap to find out more regarding the publisher of articles shared on Facebook.
You will see that trusted indicators are linked to shared articles on Facebook, supply info regarding publishers as well as their policies on ethics, fact-checking, and corrections, as well as their ownership structure and their masthead. Facebook said it’ll begin with a small group of publishers and expand over time.
“We believe that serving to folks access this necessary contextual info will facilitate them evaluate if articles are from a publisher they trust, and if the story itself is credible,” Facebook said in a statement. “This step is part of our larger efforts to combat false news and misinformation on Facebook — giving people with further context to assist them to create more informed decisions, education, and advance news literacy, and working to reinforce indicators of publisher integrity on our platform.”
The introduction of trust indicators follows a move last month to introduce other contextual info into shared articles, including a basic description of the publisher, and other articles regarding the topic. the Trust Project developed the indicators, an international consortium of news organizations hosted by Santa Clara University. The organization’s funders include Google and Craig Newman, the founder of Craigslist.
