Facebook announces that it has implemented several measures against disinformation on its social network. The community giant has in particular carried out massive blocking of user accounts.
Automatic blocks
Guy Rosen, of the Integrity department at Facebook, explains that the company blocks millions of fake accounts every day. Most of the time, this device is activated during the creation process.
In the last quarter of last year, the company blocked 1.3 billion accounts. However, beyond this process, Facebook initiates investigations to expose organizations exploiting these fake accounts located in the United States or abroad. Over the past three years, more than a hundred networks have reportedly been dismantled.
Algorithms optimized by "fact checkers"
Among the other tools developed by the company, let us note an algorithm capable of identifying the strategies put in place by these networks to encourage clicks and thus identify fraudulent accounts. This work is carried out internally by a team of 35,000 employees.
In order to verify the veracity of information disseminated on its network, the company called on 80 employees in some sixty languages. When a content conveys false information, the " fact checker " lowers its rating.
Automatically, the distribution of this post is reduced to a smaller audience with a disclaimer and contextual information. Facebook explains that when a warning is added to this type of post, in 95% of cases, it would simply be ignored.
Facebook takes the liberty of determining matters deemed " more serious ", for example relating to the COVID-19 vaccine. On this kind of misinformation, the content is simply deleted. Moreover, on this specific topic, some 12 million publications have been withdrawn.
Facebook adds: “ Despite all these efforts, some believe that we have a financial interest in playing the ostrich in the face of disinformation. In truth, it is the opposite. We have a vested interest in protecting our apps from misinformation, and we've taken a lot of steps that go against user growth and interactions. "
Source: Facebook