How Facebook and Google Plan to Fight Fake News in France’s Election
- Internet giants back fact-checking tools alongside local media
- France draws on U.S. elections as it prepares its own
Facebook Inc. and Alphabet Inc. want to stop fake news from spreading in France as the country prepares for the presidential election in spring, with new fact-checking tools showing the Internet giants have learned lessons from the run-up to the U.S. race last year.
Facebook said Monday it will extend the fact-checking tools it has already launched in the U.S. and Germany to France in the coming weeks, with local media in charge of spotting and flagging fishy content, according to a statement Monday. The initiative also includes making it easier for the platform’s users to signal potential fake news, with the goal of limiting financial gains for authors of such content. Anything flagged --a link to a story for example-- will appear on Facebook as “disputed by third party fact-checkers”.