Social media is currently the biggest hub of fake news. From hideous edited videos to misinformed news article, we have it all. The worst thing is people share them without confirmation. Facebook has been trying to curb this menace since a long time. In 2018, Facebook started its mission to expand fact checking in photos, videos and posts. While most of the information are checked by deploying machine learning, while some are manually checked by regional fact checkers. To stop the rapid spread of fake news, Facebook took some additional steps, like limiting forwarding of viral videos on Messenger and many more.
Now, here is a new addition. Facebook will now prompt user to read a news article, if he/she tries to share it without opening the link.
Also Read: Facebook To Expand Fact Checking in Photos And Videos To Curb Spread of Rumor
Facebook Newsroom shared from their Twitter handle, that they are testing this feature to promote more informed sharing of news article. If a user has not opened the link but is attempting to share the article, Facebook will notify the user with a prompt message, so that the user opens the link, and reads it before sharing. However, it won’t be a mandatory step. The user can bypass the prompt by choosing “Continue Sharing ” option. This is how the prompt looks in the testing phase. Facebook may change the options or UI in the final stage.
