Facebook, Media Cooperates to Eradicate Hoax Ahead of Election

TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - The social media giant Facebook would tighten its security platform form false news or hoax that possibly increased ahead of 2019 Presidential Election. Facebook cooperated with three fact-checking media namely Liputan6.com, Tempo, and Mafindo.

“We welcome the participation of Liputan6.com, Tempo, and Mafindo in the third party fact-checking program to help us verifying contents,” said Facebook Indonesia News Partnership Lead, Alice Budisatrijo, in a written statement received by Tempo, Wednesday, September 19.

The three media partners had recently received a certificate from the International Fact-Checking Network. Facebook had previously synergized with two other media namely Tirto.id and AFP.

Read: 6 Facebook Initiatives ahead of 2019 Presidential Election

The media partners would review the facts of news circulated on Facebook. If the media acknowledged a content containing misinformation, Facebook would lower its visibility as to lower future readers. Facebook would also display a sign at the end of the false news.

The site and domain that continuously spreading hoax news would lose access to advertisement and monetization. The measure was expected to deal with the motive of hoax news spreading due to the economic issue.

“When an article marked as hoax news, we can lower its distribution [in News Feed] up to 80 percent,” Alice said.

Other than collaborating with the three media, Facebook attempted to crack down the hoax spread by expanding its review to photos and video posts. “We realize that misinformation content spread through every format, not only via articles,” Alice added.

Facebook would also provide clearer context on the news and notify people who shared the false news. It claimed the new system would help to select quality contents for users.

FIKRI ARIGI