Eye-witness photos, videos and other information distributed by news agency Reuters already go thorough media verification process. However, it seems that the publisher is now bringing that expertise to the fight against misinformation on social media platform Facebook.

Facebook has reportedly reached an agreement with Reuters to factcheck content posted on Facebook and its photo-sharing platform Instagram. The move from Facebook seemingly comes after U.S. intelligence agencies reported that social media platforms were used in Russia’s cyber-influence campaign aimed at interfering with the 2016 U.S. election, a claim that Moscow has denied.

Under pressure to limit the spread of remove fake news on its platform ahead of the U.S. presidential elections, the company had launched a pilot program in December to detect and classify misinformation faster.

Sources familiar with the development claim that a newly formed unit at Reuters will factcheck user-generated photos, videos, headlines and other information in both English and Spanish for Facebook’s U.S. audience.

The team will then publish their findings on Reuter’s new Fact Check blog, mentioning whether and why the core claim is false, partially false, or genuine. The social media platform will then use those conclusions to categorize misinformation content as false and downrank it in its News Feed algorithm to limit its spread.

Hazel Baker, Global Head of UGC Newsgathering at Reuters, acknowledged criticism of how slow the social medial giant is to direct misinformation and hoaxes to factcheckers.

Facebook meanwhile claims it can limit further spread of hoax content by up to 80% using downranking once it is labeled false. However, this doesn’t account for all the views it receives before it is reported and factcheckers reach it amongst a vast pool of suspicious content for them to moderate.

Facebook currently works with seven other factchecking partners in the U.S., including The Associated Press and Agence France-Presse.  

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Source credits: https://www.reuters.com/article/us-facebook-partnership-reuters/facebook-starts-fact-checking-partnership-with-reuters-idUSKBN2062K4