Hate speech and fake news are a big problem for Facebook and others. This makes it all the more important to continue developing modern tools that counteract this. Instagram has now also carried out an update.
Facebook has often been criticized in the past for not doing enough to combat fake news and hate speech. The company subsequently introduced new tools designed to curb the problem. Now Instagram has also started doing the same. The company announced that it intends to use new tools to combat fake news and hate speech. The global rollout is already underway. The press release, titled "Fighting Misinformation on Instagram," states:
We want you to trust what you see on Instagram. Photo and video-based misinformation is a growing challenge in our industry, and one our teams have been focused on addressing. In May of this year, we began working with third-party fact-checkers in the US to identify, verify, and label false information. These partners independently assess false information to help us identify it and reduce its spread. Today, we're expanding our fact-checking program globally to enable fact-checking companies around the world to assess and label misinformation on our platform.
The program has already been tested in the USA and is now being rolled out worldwide. This means that as soon as a photo or video is reported as fake news, the post is marked accordingly but not removed. Users can see what it is about thanks to the special warning and decide for themselves whether they want to see the content.
Comparison of reported formulations
In addition, users will be able to see the comments of the so-called fact-checking agencies on the respective post. If the user wants to share the post despite the warning, the system will request further confirmation. According to Facebook, artificial intelligence will also be used. According to this, it will compare previously reported captions with new ones and warn the user. This means that if the user wants to comment on their picture with a certain sentence that has already been reported somewhere on the platform in the past, the system will warn the user and inform them of the facts. For example, certain phrases that have been reported in connection with bullying could trigger the warning when the post is created. Some users already have access to the new features while others will have to wait. It can be assumed that all Instagram users will be covered by the new system in the next few days. (Photo by asiandelight / Bigstockphoto)
