Most of us tend to get our daily bit of news through social media platforms. Initially, we relied on newspapers or news channels to get authenticated news, but it has now been readily made available on soacial media thanks to countless sources. However, there have been several instances of "articles" and "news", which have gone viral after being shared or tweeted millions of users but upon inspection have turned out to be fake without an ounce of credibility . Thankfully, Facebook has launched "disputed" tag to remedy the situation or to at least for the time being put a band aid on it.
Facebook has fallen several times down this rabbit hole, due to a lack of authoritarian check of what is being passed off as news, as it tries to promote user freedom. Therefore, many a times there has been major uproar due to a news that was factually incorrect or misleading but was perceived true by a majority of people. Now, the "disputed" tag users will at least have a warning not to take these articles seriously and counter check the information that has been provided in them.
These posts will also appear in the lower end of the news feed and users will receive a warning if they share a story that is factually incorrect. Although, this feature has been rolled out only in the US for now, but it is expected to soon be made available in all countries.
Now, Facebook through its "Fake news" crackdown initiative has decided to tag stories that have been cited as false or fabricated by fact checking organisations. They will also assign "disputed" tags on stories that have been reported by the majority of the users as false.
The Facebook initiative to tackle fake news came from the major flak that it received due to the role played by fake news to influence the presidential election last year.
