(CBS News) — Facebook is making some modifications to how it combats fake news for its users. The social networking giant said late Wednesday it would dispense with the Disputed Flag, a tool introduced a year ago to make it easier for Facebook users to identify hoax articles on their News Feeds.
The company said it found that the image of the red Disputed Flag may have conveyed the wrong message to users, leading to inaccurate news reports being shared more often.
“Academic research on correcting misinformation has shown that putting a strong image, like a red flag, next to an article may actually entrench deeply held beliefs — the opposite effect to what we intended,” Tessa Lyons, a Facebook product manager, said in a statement.
Instead, Facebook is turning to a key component of meaningful journalism: context. Replacing the red flags will be a “Related Articles” section that presents reports from other news outlets that allow users to immediately fact-check stories that appear in their feed. The feature has been around since 2013, but Facebook began testing a new version in April, working with third-party fact-checking groups to vet stories.
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