Media

Facebook Starts to Screen Images

Chris Jackson / Getty Images

Facebook Inc. (NASDAQ: FB) recently has faced accusations that the social network was used to help influence the presidential election. It is also, according to many critics, a platform for the dissemination of a list that runs from hate statements to child exploitation.

Facebook has increased its arsenal to keep these messages off the social network. It will begin to screen images and photos. Facebook must still contend with the problem of the sheer volume of posts on its system.

Facebook management released a statement:

We know that people want to see accurate information on Facebook, so for the last two years, we’ve made fighting misinformation a priority. One of the many steps we take to reduce the spread of false news is working with independent, third-party fact-checkers to review and rate the accuracy of content. To date, most of our fact-checking partners have focused on reviewing articles. However, we have also been actively working to build new technology and partnerships so that we can tackle other forms of misinformation. Today, we’re expanding fact-checking for photos and videos to all of our 27 partners in 17 countries around the world (and are regularly on-boarding new fact-checking partners). This will help us identify and take action against more types of misinformation, faster.

The third parties are fact-checking operations.

The number of posts Facebook and is partners have to screen each day must run into the tens of millions, if not more. The company said it had 1.45 billion daily active users in March. Monthly active users jump to 2.2 billion.

The new fact-checking system for photos and images may be a start, but it can hardly be considered more than finding a needle in a haystack.

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