Facebook (NASDAQ:FB) is taking extra precautions against fake news in the build-up to the UK general election.
As well as deleting removing tens of thousands of fake accounts in the UK, they are running newspaper adverts that give tips on spotting fake news.
“We have observed many actions by fake account operators that could only be performed by people with language skills and a basic knowledge of the political situation in the target countries, suggesting a higher level of coordination and forethought,” the US social media giant admitted in a report last month.
The adverts will appear in The Guardian, The Daily Telegraph and The Times from Monday.
“People want to see accurate information on Facebook and so do we. That is why we are doing everything we can to tackle the problem of false news. To help people spot false news, we are showing tips to everyone . . . on how to identify if something they see is false.” said Simon Milner, Facebook’s director of policy for the UK.
Some tips include “if shocking claims in the headline sound unbelievable they probably are” and advise users to “check the author’s sources to confirm they are accurate”.
Facebook has changed its system to recognise fake news more easily.
“With these changes, we expect we will also reduce the spread of material generated through inauthentic activity, including spam, misinformation, or other deceptive content that is often shared by creators of fake accounts,” a spokesperson said.
“In December, we started to test incorporating this signal into a ranking, specifically for articles that are outliers, where people who read the article are significantly less likely to share it. We’re now expanding the test to the UK.” they added.
The move comes a month before the general election in an attempt to avoid the possibility of fake news, which was seen during the EU referendum.