AFP and Fact Watch have joined the fact-checking program of Facebook
AFP and Bangladesh-based Fact Watch have joined Facebook's third-party fact-checking program as part of an effort to prevent the spread of misinformation through Facebook in Bangladesh.
Facebook started this program for the first time in 2020 with Boom in Bangladesh.
AFP and Fact Check will verify and rate the accuracy of posts, photos and videos written in Bengali or English shared from Bangladesh on Facebook.
If third-party fact-checkers identify content or story as untrue, altered, or partially untrue, it will rarely appear on the newsfeed. Instagram will also filter such stories on Explore and Hashtag pages and will be at the bottom of the feed. If a page or domain repeatedly shares fake news, its post-distribution will be reduced and the monetization and advertising of their pages will be stopped.
All the content on Facebook and Instagram that is marked as fake or slightly deviated from the truth is given a special label. Users of this platform can decide for themselves what they will read, believe and share.
The label appears at the top of untrue and fabricated pictures, videos and stories published on Instagram. There is also a link to what the fact-checkers have verified.
Facebook's global fact-checking program began in December 2016. Currently, more than 80 partners are conducting fact-checks on content in more than 60 languages.
Anjali Kapoor, Director of News Partnership at Facebook Asia Pacific, remarked: “This partnership with AFP and Fact Watch is a part of Facebook's ongoing efforts to prevent the sharing of fake news. And we need everyone's help. The University of Liberal Arts Bangladesh, IFCN and our fact-checking partners are participating in a discussion meeting on the occasion today. They will discuss the importance of verifying information during an epidemic. We welcome this joint initiative. We are hopeful that we will work together to build an information-conscious society in Bangladesh. ”
In 2020, Facebook launched the "We Think Digital" program with the Ministry of Education, the Department of Information Technology and various organizations in Bangladesh. This important Facebook program will help build the next generation of digital citizens more aware and responsible online. Last week, the Facebook Journalism Project and Reuters jointly launched the Reuters Digital Journalism course in Bangladesh, which will help journalists with digital reporting and editing.
