The move is the latest in a host of efforts the social media site has made to prevent the spread of fake news surrounding COVID-19.
Mark Zuckerberg announced the changes through a post on his official Facebook page, saying he has placed a priority on ensuring users have access to only accurate information regarding the virus:
“Through the crisis, one of my top priorities is making sure that [users] see accurate and authoritative information across all of our apps.”
Facebook will now begin directly warning users if they engage with posts that contain false information regarding COVID-19, with red flag notices appearing on their News Feeds and links to correct information provided by the World Health Organization.
The site has been expanding its fact-checking efforts as of late, with Zuckerberg saying it “displayed warnings on about 40 million posts related to COVID-19” based on reviews conducted by independent fact-checkers.
The resulting efforts have resulted in users refraining from clicking through to original content containing fake news 95% of the time.
Facebook has also launched a new feature called Get The Facts, which will appear as a section on its COVID-19 Information Center and link users to “articles written by independent fact-checking partners debunking misinformation about the coronavirus”.
According to Zuckerberg, the site’s Information Center and its accompanying educational pop-ups have seen more than 350 million people click through to learn more.
The latest changes are expected to begin rolling out over the coming weeks. However, Facebook has declined to give a number regarding how many users will see the new notifications.
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