Facebook Fake News Filter Launched In France Ahead Of Presidential Election To Fact-Check Disputed Articles

Facebook is trying its best to crack down on fake news on Facebook. The company has launched a campaign against fake news in France, ahead of the country’s presidential elections, which take place later this year.

The social network will be partnering with eight French media companies to fact-check, report and filter fake news articles. Facebook’s French partners include Agence France-Presse, BFM-TV, Franceinfo, France Médias Monde, Le Monde, L’Express, Libération and 20 Minutes.

Facebook told Reuters Monday it will also support CrossCheck — an initiative which will allow users to submit questions and gather information from 16 French media partners on any given news topic. Le Monde reported Monday the French campaign will be on the lines of a similar campaign launched in the U.S. late last year.

If an article is reported to be false or fake news by Facebook users, it will be sent to a portal accessible to the eight participating news companies. If at least two of the companies confirm the article is false, the content will be flagged as disputed in users’ news feed and they will see a warning before they choose to share it.

This is not the first time Facebook has taken steps against the spread of fake news on its platform. The company announced changes to its news feed Jan. 31, which would help identify authentic content and rank posts better in real time. The new algorithm searches for real-time responses to posts to identify real posts from spam as posts with more engagement would be ranked higher in the news feed.

Tech companies such as Facebook and Google have faced criticism over spreading fake news during the 2016 U.S. presidential election.