Facebook committed to work with French news agencies in the lead-up to the presidential election, in order to ensure that fake stories are not published on its platform.
The initiative was launched on Monday in response to growing criticism about the ‘fake news’ that flourishes on Facebook. The social network said it would be working with several leading French news organisations, including Agence France-Presse, BFM TV, and newspapers L’Express and Le Monde.
The change comes after fake news was rife during the US Presidential election late last year, and is aimed at tackling similar issues in the run-up to the French Presidential election taking place during April and May.
Google is also part of the initiative, known as “Cross Check”, which will see the social media giants working with fact-checking organisations such as Snopes, ABC News and the Associated Press to check the authenticity of stories. It will also make it easier for users to flag stories as false.
A similar initiative was announced in Germany several weeks ago, where there were worries that false stories shared on the platform could influence September’s parliamentary election, where German chancellor Angela Merkel is seeking a fourth term in office.
The news comes as France’s presidential campaign begins a difficult week, with right wing candidate Francis Fillion facing calls to step out of the race in the wake of the fake-jobs-for-the-family scandal.
It comes after French newspaper Le Canard Enchaine reported that Fillion’s wife Penelope had been paid hundreds of thousands of euros as a parliamentary assistant for work that she hadn’t done.
Fillion has stated that he is determined to defend his position as the party’s candidate, distributing leaflets over the weekend that denounced the scandal as propaganda.