Facebook to focus more on local expertise to curb fake news

Facebook on Wednesday said it would focus more on local expertise and knowledge to deal with the menace of fake news and misinformation.

Facebook India Director (Public Policy) Ankhi Das said a combination of enforcement and technical measures could help stop the spread of fake news.

The company has learnt lessons from incidents of the mob violence triggered due to fake news and misinformation in Myanmar and Sri Lanka, she added.

"What we have done, coming out of the experience of Myanmar and Sri Lanka, is we have doubled down in terms of building Trusted Flaggers network (in) what we think (are) at-risk countries where these kind of violence-causing activities can happen," Das said, while addressing the Raisina Dialogue 2019 in New Delhi.

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The company has restricted the number of WhatsApp forwards to five and stopped the fast-forward feature on any video content to stop the content and the message from becoming viral in India, she said.

Facebook-owned WhatsApp was under fire last year over abuse of its platform for circulation of fake news that had incited mob fury.

"So, in all these (at-risk) countries, we work closely with the civil society community and other experts to make sure we are getting ahead in these issues, and making sure that our enforcement teams are aware of the developments as they happen so that these kind of contents are tackled on the platform," Das said.

She also said the company would continue to improve its tools to prevent circulation of misinformation by discussing it with peers in industry and civil society community. 

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