It’s no surprise there are plenty of fake news stories on the Internet, but in order to help readers see different perspectives and read facts instead of false news, Facebook has started testing a new feature that will show its users a variety of articles related to the same topic to allow variety before they click an article to read.
The test for this new feature began rolling out Tuesday, April 25, 2017, on a select number of users’ news feeds and is meant to provide easy access to information such as fact-checked articles from third-party sources. In the past, Facebook has been under fire for allowing fake news and filters on certain news articles on its site.
“One of our main goals is to support an informed community on Facebook,” said Sara Su, Facebook news feed product manager. “This includes helping people have conversations about the news and giving people more ways to see a more complete picture of a story or topic.”
Google is another tech company that has been making similar strides to fight fake news stories. Google has announced it will be altering its search engine algorithm to help eliminate or downplay articles it sees as misleading, offensive, low in quality, or just false. Google has also developed tools to allow its users to report something they deem offensive or know to be false.
While it may take some time to see major changes in what users are reading, the common goal is to provide people with factual and relevant information from trustworthy sources and it seems both companies are on the right track. So beware fake news, because Facebook and Google are coming for you!
