Instagram Expands Fact-Checking Program Globally
Facebook is expanding its fact-checking program on Instagram globally to help combat the rising tide of misinformation on the social site.
The social network started working with third-party fact-checkers in the US back in May. If content is assessed as false, Instagram will then label it as such for global users and remove it from Explore and hashtag pages to reduce its exposure.
Now fact-checking organizations around the world will be able to participate in the program, although they’re not the only tool in the social network’s armory.
“We use image matching technology to find further instances of this content and apply the label, helping reduce the spread of misinformation. In addition, if something is rated false or partly false on Facebook, starting today we’ll automatically label identical content if it is posted on Instagram (and vice versa),” the firm explained.
“The label will link out to the rating from the fact-checker and provide links to articles from credible sources that debunk the claim(s) made in the post. We make content from accounts that repeatedly receive these labels harder to find by removing it from Explore and hashtag pages.”
Instagram said it combines community feedback — including any users who have chosen to avail themselves of a new “false information” option — with in-house technology to determine which content to send to fact-checkers for review.
Although less commonly associated with fake news and state-backed attempts to spread misinformation than Facebook, Instagram is being increasingly used in “coordinated inauthentic behavior.”
Accounts on the photo-sharing site have been removed in most of the online crackdowns announced by Facebook over the past year, including efforts by suspected Russian and Iranian state actors.
Earlier this week Instagram also announced an anti-bullying initiative which uses AI to warn users if their captions “may be considered offensive.”
This post Instagram Expands Fact-Checking Program Globally originally appeared on InfoSecurity Magazine.
