Facebook To Start Testing Fake News Filter In Germany Following Threat Of Fine

Facebook has been trying different tactics to address the matter of fake news for weeks after getting bombarded with criticism and threats of legal action. Now, the biggest social media site in the world is set to start testing a new filtering system meant to screen fake news in Germany. It’s worth noting that the country did threaten to fine Facebook $535,000 for every 24 hours that a fake news item isn’t removed.

Some of the other things that Facebook has been trying is to have users report fake news in order to have them removed and to work with journalists through a new project that it is launching. When contacted by Gizmodo, the social network responded with an email, saying that a filter similar to what it will be running in Germany was actually also implemented in the U.S. one month back.

The most interesting aspect of this development is that Germany is about to enter an election cycle on October. Considering how much backlash Facebook received after the proliferation of fake news was identified has having contributed to President-elect Donald Trump’s victory, the timing certainly proves interesting.

Thanks to the new system, all German users would have to do is flag any content as fake news and they will be sent to the non-profit organization, Corrective, Digital Trends reports. Once the content has been confirmed fake, it will be suppressed from ranking high in the newsfeeds and the users will be given a link to an article explaining why it was considered fake.

In any case, the simple fact that the social media site has finally started taking fake news seriously after being threatened through legal means indicates that governments do have the power to stop the spread of misinformation if they want. It’s true that such activities are taken more seriously in Germany than in the U.S., but it does constitute a precedent that other countries might start following.