Facebook rolls out strategies to curb spread of fake news

Mark Zuckerberg.
(Image credit: Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)

Facebook announced Thursday its plans to address the spread of fake news, an apparent response to critics who have blamed the site for making it easy to peddle misinformation or even swing the election. The social media network has long been cautious about interfering with what gets shared, not wanting to be, as The New York Times puts it, "an arbiter of truth." But while "we really value giving people a voice … we also believe we need to take responsibility for the spread of fake news on our platform," said Adam Mosseri, a Facebook vice president.

Facebook plans to experiment with gutting fake news websites' revenue by scanning third-party links for pages that are mainly advertising, or are pretending to be another website, like a fake New York Times. Users will also be able to report posts that appear to be fake:

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Jeva Lange

Jeva Lange was the executive editor at TheWeek.com. She formerly served as The Week's deputy editor and culture critic. She is also a contributor to Screen Slate, and her writing has appeared in The New York Daily News, The Awl, Vice, and Gothamist, among other publications. Jeva lives in New York City. Follow her on Twitter.