Facebook to warn users who 'liked' or ‘shared’ coronavirus hoaxes

A new notice will be sent to users who have clicked on, reacted to, or commented on posts featuring harmful or false claims about Covid-19

The alert is the latest in a string of aggressive efforts the social media giant is taking to contain an outbreak of viral falsehoods

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Facebook says warning labels based on fact checks have stopped 95 per cent of users from clicking on false information. Photo: AFP

Published: 11:01am, 17 Apr 2020Updated: 11:01am, 17 Apr 2020

Facebook will soon let you know if you shared or interacted with dangerous coronavirus misinformation on the site, the latest in a string of aggressive efforts the social media giant is taking to contain an outbreak of viral falsehoods.

The new notice will be sent to users who have clicked on, reacted to, or commented on posts featuring harmful or false claims about Covid-19 after they have been removed by moderators. The alert, which will start appearing on Facebook in the coming weeks, will direct users to a site where the World Health Organisation lists and debunks virus myths and rumours.

Facebook, Google and Twitter are introducing stricter rules, altered algorithms and thousands of fact checks to stop the spread of bad misinformation online about the virus.

Challenges remain. Tech platforms have sent home human moderators who police the platforms, forcing them to rely on automated systems to take down harmful content. They are also up against people’s mistrust of authoritative sources for information, such as the WHO.

“Through this crisis, one of my top priorities is making sure that you see accurate and authoritative information across all of our apps,” Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg wrote on his Facebook page Thursday.

The company disclosed Thursday that it put more than 40 million warning labels in March over videos, posts or articles about the coronavirus that fact-checking organisations have determined are false or misleading. The number includes duplicate claims – the labels were based on 4,000 fact checks.

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