Ever since the conclusion of the U.S. Presidential Election, Facebook has been trying, testing and implementing various tools that would help it combat fake news. Today, it is reported that these tools will be made available for a country outside of the States for the first time: Germany.
With Germany expected to hold its federal election this year, Facebook has announced that it will be rolling out its “fake news tools” within the coming weeks. Under this system, Facebook users in Germany will be able to report news stories that they believe are fake. A nonprofit news organization called Correctiv will fact-check these reported news, and should they be found false, the story will be marked “disputed” as to warn users that the news article cannot be trusted.
Facebook’s decision to roll out its fake news tool to Germany probably stems from the fact that the company could potentially find itself in legal trouble if it didn’t do so. Justice Minister of Germany Heiko Maas has said last year that Facebook should be regulated as a media company in the country, which would leave Facebook open to legal problems stemming from any content it publishes.
Germany aside, Facebook has mentioned that it intends to roll out its fake news tools to other countries as well, although a timeframe was not given as to when to expect that to happen.
Source: Financial Times, The Verge