Companies will have access to Facebook and Instagram posts to fact-check content reported as false
Meta announced that Reuters Fact Check and UOL Confere are the new members of the company’s fact-checking program in Brazil.
The initiative has six partners that help to reach the content posted on Facebook and Instagram months before the presidential elections in the country, such as: Agência Lupa, Aos Fatos, Agence France Presse (AFP) and Estadão Verifies.
“The arrival of Reuters Fact Check and UOL Confere to our fact-checking program in Brazil reinforces our commitment to fighting disinformation,” said Dulce Ramos, manager of Meta’s Strategic Partnerships with News Vehicles in Latin America.
Reuters Fact Check and UOL Confere will have access to content on Facebook and Instagram such as news posts, photos and videos denounced as false by the community or identified from a series of signs, to analyze their veracity.
“The spread of disinformation is a critical challenge around the world, particularly in the context of elections. Expanding our fact-checking partnership with Meta in Brazil will allow us to deliver accurate and verified information to help people make better decisions in this election,” said Reuters fact-checking editor Christina Anagnostopoulos.
Under Meta’s fact-checking program, content on the company’s social media that is marked as false, altered, or partially false has reduced distribution in feeds, and users who still view that content will see it covered with a label and a link directing for fact checking.
Also, when trying to share this type of content, users will receive an alert that this is an untrusted post.
With the initiative, pages, groups, accounts and sites that repeatedly share fake news also face restrictions, including reducing the reach of content.
“The partnership with Meta is very important within our strategy to increase the volume of news checks. It is a measure that I consider fundamental to, at the same time, minimize the impact of disinformation and warn the public not to believe everything they receive, read or see”, added the content director of UOL, Murilo Garavello.
Meta’s fact-checking program launched in 2016 in the United States and has since expanded to dozens of countries. Currently, the program includes more than 80 partners worldwide checking content in more than 60 languages.
