Facebook introduces journalism project to strengthen media ties, curb fake news

 Facebook on Wednesday announced its namesake journalism project to establish stronger ties between the company and the news industry, marking its latest efforts to stamp out fake news on its platform.

"We know that our community values sharing and discussing ideas and news, and as part of our service, we care a great deal about making sure that a healthy news ecosystem and journalism can thrive," said Fidji Simo, director of product for Facebook, in a blog post.

"That's why today we're announcing a new program to establish stronger ties between Facebook and the news industry," Simo said.

The launch of the project came after the world's biggest social media network was under criticism for allegedly propagating fake stories on its platform during the U.S. presidential campaign.

Under the project, Facebook will put more "efforts to curb news hoaxes," meanwhile design tools to promote "news literacy" for its users.

"We will be collaborating with news organizations to develop products, learning from journalists about ways we can be a better partner, and working with publishers and educators on how we can equip people with the knowledge they need to be informed readers in the digital age," Simo said.

Facebook recently has made improvements on its platform to further reduce the spread of news hoaxes, including ways for people to report fake stories more easily and new efforts to disrupt the financial incentives for spammers.

Moreover, the company has launched a program to work with third-party fact checking organizations to identify hoaxes on Facebook.

"This problem (fake news) is much bigger than any one platform, and it's important for all of us to work together to minimize its reach," Simo said.

In order to better suits the need of its readers to consume news, Facebook also plans to evolve its current storytelling formats, such as Instant Articles, to enables readers to see multiple stories at a time from their favorite news organizations.

It has yet known whether the new project will be embraced by journalists.

"This is just the beginning of our effort," Facebook said. "We have much more to do."

source: Xinhua