Facebook Extends Its Third Party Fact Checking Programme in Ten More Countries in Africa

The fight against fake news is gaining momentum across the world with Africa joining in to end the vice perpetrated mainly on social media platforms.

Facebook, arguably the biggest social media network in the continent, has enrolled ten more countries to its fact-checking programme.

“Third-party fact-checking will now be available in Ethiopia, Zambia, Somalia and Burkina Faso through AFP, Uganda and Tanzania through both Pesa Check and AFP, Democratic Republic of Congo and Cote d’Ivoire through the France 24 Observers and AFP, Guinea Conakry through the France 24 Observers, and Ghana through Dubawa,” Facebook announced.

Kenya, Nigeria, South Africa, Cameroon and Senegal already have their third party fact-checkers.

The work of the third-party fact-checkers is to review news, social posts and photos posted on Facebook and flag them as false accordingly. This stems the spread of misinformation fueled by political and economic pressures.

Page Admins and people on Facebook will receive notifications if they try to share a story or have shared one in the past that’s been determined to be false, empowering people to decide for themselves what to read, trust, and share, the social platform said.

“Taking steps to help tackle false news on Facebook is a responsibility we take seriously, we know misinformation is a problem, and these are important steps in continuing to address this issue,” Kojo Boakye, Facebook Head of Public Policy, Africa, said.

“We know that third-party fact-checking alone is not the solution, it is one of many initiatives and programmes we are investing in to help to improve the quality of information people see on Facebook. While we’ve made great progress, we will keep investing to ensure Facebook remains a place for all ideas, but not for the spread of false news,” he added.

Featured Image Courtesy: Facebook Newsroom