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Facebook launches battle against ‘fake news’ in Germany

Social media giant Facebook announced on Sunday that it would introduce new measures to combat fake news in Germany, as Europe's largest economy and most populous nation enters an election year.

Published: 15 January 2017 21:19 CET
Facebook launches battle against 'fake news' in Germany
Facebook has vowed to move to counter the problem of fake news. Photo:Patrick Pleul

“It's important to us that the reports and news posted on Facebook are reliable,” a blog post on the Silicon Valley firm's German website read.

German politicians have warned that populist parties and foreign nations could use fake news to try and influence parliamentary elections slated for September or October.

Facebook's new German initiative targets “unambiguously wrong reports” being shared on the social media platform.

The firm said it would offer a simpler reporting process for users to flag suspected fake news, display warnings next to statements identified as false by independent fact-checking organisations, and cut off advertising revenue to fake news sites presenting themselves as real news organisations.

Stories flagged with a fake news warning will not be eligible to be converted into an ad seen by other users or “promoted” into other users' feeds for a fee.

“We think that independent and transparent fact-checking can be a powerful instrument for journalism,” Facebook said.

Nonprofit investigative journalism organisation Correctiv will be the first fact-checking partner in Germany, the firm added, saying that they are “confident” of adding other news organisations in future.

Facebook's latest measures come just days after it announced the creation of a “Journalism Project” aimed at boosting the credibility of the information it circulates.

FACEBOOK

Facebook deletes virus conspiracy accounts in Germany

Facebook says it has deleted the accounts, pages and groups linked to virus conspiracy theorists, anti-vaxxers and anti-maskers in Germany who are vocal opponents of government restrictions to control the coronavirus pandemic.

Published: 17 September 2021 09:06 CEST
Updated: 17 September 2021 15:52 CEST
Facebook deletes virus conspiracy accounts in Germany
An anti-vaccination and anti-Covid demo in Berlin on August 28th. Photo: picture alliance/dpa | Christophe Gateau

With just 10 days to go before Germany’s parliamentary elections – where the handling of the pandemic by Angela Merkel’s goverment will come under scrutiny – Facebook said it had “removed a network of Facebook and Instagram accounts” linked to the so-called “Querdenker” or Lateral Thinker movement.

The pages posted “harmful health misinformation, hate speech and incitement to violence”, the social media giant said in a statement.

It said that the people behind the pages “used authentic and duplicate accounts to post and amplify violating content, primarily focused on promoting the conspiracy that the German government’s Covid-19 restrictions are part of a larger plan to strip citizens of their freedoms and basic rights.”

The “Querdenker” movement, which is already under surveillance by Germany’s intelligence services, likes to portray itself as the mouthpiece of opponents
of the government’s coronavirus restrictions, organising rallies around the country that have drawn crowds of several thousands.

READ ALSO: Germany’s spy agency to monitor ‘Querdenker’ Covid sceptics

It loosely groups together activists from both the far-right and far-left of the political spectrum, conspiracy theorists and anti-vaxxers. And some of their rallies have descended into violence.

Social media platforms regularly face accusations that they help propagate misinformation and disinformation, particularly with regard to the pandemic and vaccines.

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