NEW YORK: Facebook says it’s expanding its fact-checking program to include photos and videos as it fights fake news and misinformation on its service.
The move comes as bad actors seeking to sow political discord in the US and elsewhere embrace images and video to spread misinformation.
The company has been testing the image fact-checks since the spring, beginning with France and the news agency AFP. Now, it will send all of its 27 third-party fact-checkers disputed photos and videos to verify — or the fact-checkers can find them on their own.
If they are untrue or misleading, Facebook will label them as such.
Facebook says the fact-checkers use visual verification techniques, such as reverse image searching and analyzing image metadata, to check the veracity of the photos and videos.
Beyond fake news? Facebook to fact check photos, videos
Updated 14 September 2018