Full Fact teamed up with Facebook to help tackle misinformation on social media

Credit: Image by Full Fact

Tips for spotting false news launched on Facebook today (7 April) in a bid to crack down on the spread of misinformation on the social platform.

Full Fact, the UK’s independent fact-checking organisation, teamed up with Facebook to give users 10 tips for spotting inaccurate or made-up news, such as looking closely at the URL, watching out for unusual formatting, and checking the evidence within the piece.

Will Moy, director, Full Fact, explained that although the initiative "isn't the whole answer", it will provide a helpful source of information for Facebook users who suspect stories they see might be false.

"Our central message is that if you're not sure, don't share – every journalist has seen their own articles being shared faster than they could have possibly been read.

"We all have a responsibility – none of us wants to mislead our friends, and if you don't want to do that, you're going to have to take a second look before you share."

The initiative supports Full Fact's launch of an educational fact-checking and false news toolkit, which aims to provide practical tools which the public can use to identify misleading claims and made up stories.

"It seemed like a really good idea to bring the two initiatives together. It is to provide support to members of the public and people in education to do fact-checking for themselves," Moy said.

Want to know how journalists can start to tackle the misinformation ecosystem? Check out this advice from Claire Wardle, who leads strategy and research at First Draft, who explained how newsrooms can start dealing with the issues that fake news is causing for the journalism industry.

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