Instagram recently announced that moving forward they would be fighting misinformation on their app with the aid of third-party fact-checkers. This move places the Facebook subsidiary in line with its parent company. As such, Instagram will be adopting many of the same practices that Facebook announced for its website back in June of 2018.
Following the announcement, Instagram’s fact-checkers have started to clean up the site. Essentially, Instagram will use be using the program they already had in place in collaboration with an external organization to effectively mark content as false or misleading. This mark will be visible for Instagram users to see should they want to interact with the content regardless. As Instagram is a subsidiary of Facebook, things marked as false on one site will receive the same mark on the other. Interestingly, interacting with the labels will show the users information about the fact-checker, and links to reputable sources that debunk or question the information.
Instagram’s parent company, Facebook, has come under fire in the past for allowing fake and dangerous reports to proliferate on their site. Businesses could purchase ad space on the site since 2012, and in 2012 Facebook offered advertisers user data. The goal was to have users see products and posts that aligned with things they’ve interacted with in the past. However, due to a hands-off approach to the way organizations used the data, an infamous flood of posts with incorrect information has vexed the site.
Instagram Blocking Fake News Is A Social Issue
Facebook wasn’t the only social media site that has issues with dangerous groups and information on their site. Many websites allow individuals or businesses to post and organize as they please, as long as they pay for space. Though the social nature of social media enables messages to be spread around through word of mouth.
Back in 2017, the Pew Research Center reported Facebook as the place where upwards of 45% of people get some of their news. The steps Instagram has taken to make sure that these news items are accurate is admirable, but if these efforts are inefficient or misguided, it could cause more harm than good.
The good news is that fake or misleading news is often easy to spot. An inflammatory or accusative voice is generally a tell that an article is trying to push an agenda. Colorful words like “legendary” or “dunked” are common phrases some sites use to hide that there’s more to the story. Additionally, simple checks like making sure the URL in the address bar is accurate is important to evade predatory sites that want to impersonate other well-known sources.
Still, fighting fake news shouldn’t be placed on the backs of users. While steps are being taken to battle these issues, it’s hard to imagine that these measures couldn’t have been put in place earlier.
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Source: Instagram
