We've all come across a fake news story on our News Feeds, but Facebook wants to make sure that these stories aren't the ones frequently getting shared–especially during election season.
The social network and Google announced the launch of a campaign on Monday that has the goal of preventing fake news stories from spreading in France ahead of the country's presidential election this spring.
According to a report from Reuters, Facebook and Google are teaming up with French media companies including Le Monde, Agence France-Presse and more to fact check and then filter news stories to make sure the public is reading accurate information in election-related articles.
Facebook users will be able to report when a new story contains false facts. The flagged story will then be fact checked by the media companies participating in the initiative using websites like Snopes.
If at least two of the news organization find that it is a fake news story, a warning will pop up before Facebook users hit "Share."
Advertising will be stopped as well for these flagged articles.
It appears like Facebook is attempting to be more involved in what kinds of news articles appear on its platform after receiving negative criticism for allowing fake stories from making its rounds during the recent U.S. presidential election.
This is exactly what the French press wants to prevent.
Google will also do its part by being involved with the "news verification project" dubbed CrossCheck. Created in partnership between First Draft and Google News Lab, CrossCheck "aims to ensure hoaxes, rumors and false claims are swiftly debunked, and misleading or confusing stories are accurately reported."
The public are asked to submit any article or social content to CrossCheck's website for the content to be investigated.
"With the French presidential election approaching, journalists from across France and beyond will work together to find and verify content circulating publicly online, whether it is photographs, videos, memes, comment threads and news sites," Google News Lab Lead David Dieudonne writes in a blog post.
Facebook, along with AFP (Agence France-Presse), BuzzFeed News, France Médias Monde (via les Observateurs de France 24), France Télévisions, Global Voices, Libération, La Provence, Les Echos, La Voix du Nord, Le Monde (Les Décodeurs), Nice-Matin, Ouest-France, Rue89 Bordeaux, Rue89Lyon, Rue89 Strasbourg, Storyful and StreetPress all support this initiative.
