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Facebooks fake news tag is here. Who is charged with flagging hoaxes?
Key Excerpts from Article on Website of Christian Science Monitor


Christian Science Monitor, March 6, 2017
Posted: March 13th, 2017
http://www.csmonitor.com/Technology/2017/0306/Facebook-s-fak...

Facebook unveiled its highly anticipated disputed news tag Friday, allowing some users to flag stories that appear to contain false information, alerting readers and potentially making them less likely to click through to the content. In December, the company announced it would unveil a fact-checking feature that allows users to dispute material they believe is false. The system relies on users who qualify as fact-checkers after signing onto a list of principles codified by the journalism nonprofit Poytner. These users can flag single stories, rather than entire sources, as fraudulent. Links to vetted debunkers, such as Politifact and Snopes, that analyze claims and arrive at conclusions regarding their validity then appear beneath the post. So users can still see and access flagged stories shared by their friends, but they will get a warning before clicking through. According to Gizmodo, two stories flagged as disputed by the social media site Friday seemed to follow a pattern: Both made critical statements about the Trump administration and came from sources that had previously admitted to publishing fake stories. Its unclear how many fake stories the system will be able to identify, or how many others will trust it. The divisive political climate ... likely wont be fixed simply by placing an asterisk on some coverage. The problem is that we are too credulous of news that reinforces our predispositions and too critical of sites that contradict them, Brendan Nyhan, a political scientist at Dartmouth College in Hanover, N.H., told the Monitor.

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