Name: Facebook flags 50 million items of misleading coronavirus content
Brand: standard.co.uk
SKU: standard-co-uk-18
Availability: OnlineOnly

critic

Facebook flags 50 million items of misleading coronavirus content

preview

moderators have labelled 50 million posts as , the social media company has said.The social media giant has also removed around 2.5 million posts that had false information about sales of medical equipment like masks and testing kits since the start of March.In its latest community standards report, the company said that it had pointed more than two billion people to official medical guidance on via its own information centre.The items of content given warning labels were related to around 7,500 articles that fact-checking groups flagged as misleading. Facebook detects around 90 per cent of the misleading content that it removes before it is reported, the company added.Facebook has also doubled the number of posts related to drugs removed from the site.Meanwhile , which is owned by Facebook, took down 40 per cent more posts containing content related to suicide or self-harm. The site also announced several new measures designed to combat bullying. Facebook chief technology officer Mike Schroepfer said the company was relying more on technology to review content amid the coronavirus lockdown.He added in a blog post: “We’ve spent the last few years building tools, teams and technologies to help protect elections from interference, prevent misinformation from spreading on our apps and keep people safe from harmful content.”“So when the Covid-19 crisis emerged, we had the tools and processes in place to move quickly and we were able to continue finding and removing content that violates our policies.“When we temporarily sent our content reviewers home due to the Covid-19 pandemic, we increased our reliance on these automated systems and prioritised high-severity content for our teams to review in order to continue to keep our apps safe during this time.”Several major tech companies have put in place measures to control the spread and impact of misleading information regarding coronavirus, following criticism from politicians and online safety groups. for tackling disputed coronavirus information - putting warnings underneath posts, covering them with labels and removing them altogether if they are considered "harmful".Google automatically directs people who search for "coronavirus" to the websites of the and local public health bodies.Despite the work being done by tech companies, several misleading theories about coronavirus have circulated online since the outbreak began.These include possible cures, stories about how the virus started and links with 5G networks - which have been dismissed by experts.Professor Philip Howard, director of the Oxford Internet Institute, that an item of fake health news online can reach roughly as many people as a BBC article.And MPs accused tech companies last week of not giving enough information about how they are fighting disinformation.Julian Knight, chair of the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport select committee said the firms had been “deeply unhelpful”.He added: “The lack of information and detail in the answers we were given showed a disregard for the important process of scrutiny.”“We’re again asking the social media companies for information that was so woefully lacking in order to prove to Parliament and their users that their organisations are open and accountable for their behaviour.”Sign up for exclusive newsletters, comment on stories, enter competitions and attend events.ALREADY HAVE AN ACCOUNT? NEED AN ACCOUNT?

moderators have labelled 50 million posts as , the social media company has said.The social media giant has also removed around 2.5 million posts that had false information about sales of medical equipment like masks and testing kits since the start of March.In its latest community standards report, the company said that it had pointed more than two billion people to official medical guidance on via its own information centre.The items of content given warning labels were related to around 7,500 articles that fact-checking groups flagged as misleading. Facebook detects around 90 per cent of...

public

Kit Heren

The Evening Standard (also the London Evening Standard) is a local, Russian-owned free daily newspaper, published Monday to Friday in tabloid format in London. Since 2009 it has been owned by Russian businessman Alexander Lebedev. It is the dominant local/regional evening paper for London and the surrounding area, with coverage of national and international news and City of London finance. Its current editor is former UK Conservative Member of Parliament and Chancellor of the Exchequer, George Osborne. In October 2009, the paper ended a 180-year history of paid circulation and became a free newspaper, doubling its circulation as part of a change in its business plan.

Facebook flags 50 million items of misleading coronavirus content

No article scores yet.

CRITIC REVIEWS

PUBLIC REVIEWS