Facebook today took out full-page adverts in The Times, Telegraph, Financial Times and Guardian offering readers tips on how to spot fake news.
The ads do not appear to have been run in leading tabloids The Sun, Mirror and Daily Mail.
The adverts offer ten tips on how to spot false news provided by the organisation FullFact. It mimicks a campaign run by the Social Media giant ahead of the French general election.
It comes as Facebook faces criticism both over the spread of misleading political information on the network and about its monopolistic position in the UK social media market.
It comes after it announced the recruitment of an extra 3,000 people, making a total of 7,500, to removing content like “hate speech and child exploitation”. It follows videos of murders appearing on the network.
The problems Facebook has removing unsavoury content were highlight last week when it deleted the account of a weekly video news show because it advocated the legalisation of drugs.
Facebook made £21bn from advertising last year.
By 2020 it is estimated that Facebook and Google will take 71 per cent of the onine advertising in the UK. Web advertising is already the biggest segment.
An investigation by BBC Panorama tonight reports claims that so called “dark advertising” on Facebook targeted at particular groups of voters influenced the outcome of the referendum on leaving the EU.
FullFact’s false news tips as provided by FullFact:
1. Be sceptical of headlines. Fales news stories often have catchy headlines in all caps with exclamation marks.
2. Look closely at the URL. A phoney or look-alike URL may be a warning sign of false news.
3. Investigate the source. Ensure the story is written by a source that you trust with a reputation for accuracy.
4. Watch for unusual formatting. Many false news sites have misspellings or awkward layouts.
5. Consider the photos. False news stories often contain manipulated images or videos.
6. Inspect the dates. False news stories may contain timelines that make no sense…
7. Check the evidence. Check the author’s sources to confirm they are accurate.
8. Look at other reports. If no other news source is reporting the same story, it may indicate that the story is false…
9. Is the story a joke?
10. Some stories are intentially false. Think critically about the stories you read, and only share news that you know to be credible.
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