Facebook steps up a bit

Hey, it’s Rich Dale.  When it comes to COVID-19, there’s lot of information out there, and unfortunately even more misinformation.  Something pops up on Facebook and without checking on it, people Like it, or worse, share it.

Well Facebook is about to let you know if you’ve liked, shared, or commented on any bogus claims, stories or cures about COVID-19 in order to stop the spread of misinformation.  In a few coming weeks, if you’ve liked any type of harmful, debunked content, you’ll get a message from Facebook that will direct you to the World Health Organization’s Mythbusters page.

A global advocacy group conducted a study of 104 different Facebook posts between January and March that were verified false by an independent fact-checker.  The study showed that the posts were shared nearly 2 million times and had racked up 117 million views.  The group said after they showed the study to Facebook, the company only removed 17 of them.

Facebook said they’re working to prevent the spread of misinformation and that the advocacy group’s study “isn’t representative of the Facebook community.”

This wouldn’t work so much in the rapidly changing information environment right now, but I’ve always been a big fan of Snopes to tell me when something is bogus.  Like the time someone told me that Mr. Ed was actually played by a zebra.  (Spoiler alert:  no.)

Bottom line is, especially these days, check everything you read.