Facebook, a social media site that has a vast amount of users has been displaying false and fake information. But how do we as users determine what information is authentic?
Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg says the platform is "now blocking millions of attempts to register false accounts each and every day" and is "making progress on fake news."
"As these past few weeks and months have shown, this work is starting to pay off." https://t.co/pp4al9Ita3 pic.twitter.com/9nrEoAWPWJ
— ABC News (@ABC) September 5, 2018
Yes, Facebook may be making an attempt to solve this issue, however, we as a society are spreading these lies and false information.
Check the domain and URL of the site. Review the comments and look what people are saying about this user or site.
Don’t believe everything you see on the internet.
Read past the headline. Don’t be fooled by the title of an article.
When trying to decide if information is authentic, review the source before sharing it to more users.
There are many ways to ensure that a source is credible. Check to see who the user is that posted it. Is their profile real? Verified? Are other outlets reporting this same information? And is this a website that you trust?
Facebook has taken steps to stop fake news being spread for years now. According to Facebook.com, they are working to fight the spread of false information in three key areas. One being building new products that allow easier reporting. Facebook users have the option to flag false information. By doing this it lowers the chance of that same information appearing on others news feeds. Read more at: https://www.facebook.com/facebookmedia/blog/working-to-stop-misinformation-and-false-news
Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg on Recode Decode: He talks with @karaswisher about everything from China to Infowars to whether he should be fired over the Cambridge Analytica scandal: https://t.co/ZMGJ766Ecm pic.twitter.com/GfToxXSWXm
— Recode (@Recode) July 22, 2018
As Mark Zuckerberg said, we must also focus on the negatives of a social media site like Facebook. There are fake accounts and false articles all over social media sites today. Facebook along with other social media sites are working on blocking fake news so we should too.
We as users need to stop sharing fake news.
Read, think then share!