In the age of fake news, Snapchat is taking a stand.
The social media platform on Monday edited the guidelines for its news service, Discover. The company is explicitly restricting publishers from posting “questionable” pictures that have no editorial or news value, the New York Times reports. It also said all content must be accurate and fact-checked, clarifying guidelines that forbid publishers from including links or reports to external websites that could be considered fake news. Snapchat also plans to release a tool in February that gives publishers the ability to age-gate content.
The company hopes the changes “empower our editorial partners to do their part to keep Snapchat an informative, factual and safe environment for everyone” Snapchat spokeswoman Rachel Racusen tod the Times.
The new rules come before an expected initial public offering by its parent company Snap.
“In this environment, every technology company that touches media is concerned about being vulnerable to connections to fake news and disinformation,” Joshua Benton, director of the Nieman Journalism Lab at Harvard University, told Digital Trends. “That’s doubly true for a company planning for an IPO.”