Facebook, Google and Twitter are accused of having a part in the US Presidential election outcome. However, the issue of fake news all over these social media platforms goes way back and beyond the election. It only became much evident now. In the midst of the public outcry, Google and Facebook are indirectly trying to resolve this problem.
Measures To Combat Fake News
Google and Facebook are trying to combat fake news in an indirect manner. The tech companies have announced measures that focus on advertising policies. For instance, Google is going to update its policy. It will prevent websites responsible for the fake news to use its AdSense advertising network.
On the other hand, Facebook will be able to ban fake news in addition to deceptive and misleading contents.
It Still Not The Answer
According to Reuters, the move of both Google and Facebook is limited. There are a lot of news articles being shared through Facebook. An updated advertising policy for Facebook is not the answer to fake news sites. The tech giant has no power over the articles shared on a user's news feed.
But they have the power to cut off the websites from their source of income. Facebook pointed this out in a statement. This means that such sites will have no displayed ads. It remains to be seen if this will be effective. Facebook assured that they will check publishers if they are complying.
As for Google, it previously launched a fact-check feature. However, this does not seem to stop fake news from appearing on the results page.
How Much Did Facebook Influence Voters?
Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg has already denied that the social media platform had actually influenced voters. Though some think that the fake news in Facebook might have been one of the reasons the result of the election is what it is now.
Zuckerberg insisted that 99 percent of news content in Facebook is authentic. Apparently, only one percent of it is considered fake. It should be noted that Zuckerberg once said that Facebook will become people's own personal newspaper, according to The New York Times.
