The amount of fake news and conspiracy theories on Facebook and Twitter is troublesome, but by no means limited to those two social media platforms. Instagram users have to deal with a fair share of general misinformation as well.
The company has already been working to reduce the reach of posts containing false information, but is now taking things one step further. Soon potentially misinforming posts will go through parent company Facebook's fact checking procedures.
Posts that are identified as false will not necessarily be removed but won't appear on the Explore page or hashtag search. Talking to Poynter, a company spokesperson said: 'Our approach to misinformation is the same as Facebook's — when we find misinfo, rather than remove it, we'll reduce its distribution. '
The newly introduced measures now ensure the fact checkers also find images on Instagram that have not previously been flagged on Facebook.
According to reports Instagram has been working closely with Facebook's fact checking teams since the US midterm elections. When images with misinformation are identified on Facebook, an image recognition algorithm can search for the same image on Instagram. The newly introduced measures now ensure the fact checkers also find images on Instagram that have not previously been flagged on Facebook.
According to Poynter, Instagram is also considering the option to add pop-ups that alert users who are searching for misinformation. It's good to see the platform and its parent company Facebook taking a stronger stance against misinformation in social media but for many the measures to counteract fake news and hate messages are still not going far enough.
2019-5-8 17:29
