Despite ongoing efforts, Facebook has struggled to move forward from its involvement in the proliferation of fake news.
The tech giant promised a new algorithm to flag suspicious stories last summer and renewed its commitment to fighting fake news at the start of 2018. But now it is enlisting the help of the Associated Press to double down on its efforts.
The AP announced that it will be working with Facebook to “identify and debunk false and misleading stories related to the U.S. Midterm election that are circulating on the platform.” Under this partnership, AP will reportedly “leverage the presence of AP reporters” across all 50 states, allowing Facebook’s fact-checking initiative to draw on local sources.
Journalists will be enlisted to fact-check election-related stories from the national, state, and local levels on Facebook. They will not only generate their own stories intended to provide “background and context” on the elections, but also will seek to either debunk or validate other stories that appear on Facebook.