In order to check the increasing spread of fake news, social media giant, Facebook has partnered with Dubawa, a fact-checking website.
According to a statement released, the partnership, where Dubawa will help assess the accuracy of news and reduce the spread of misinformation, is as a result of the recent launch of Facebook’s “third-party fact-checking programme”.
The programme will target third-party fact-checkers who write articles about a news story, which Facebook will show in “related articles” immediately below the story in news feed.
Additionally, local articles will be fact-checked alongside the verification of photos and videos, and If a fact-checking partner identifies a story as false, Facebook will show it lower in news feed, significantly reducing its distribution.
While commenting on the partnership Akua Gyekye, Facebook’s public policy manager, Anglophone West Africa, said: “With this new partnership, we aim to build on the work we already started in Nigeria.
“Nigeria is important to us and we’re committed to taking our responsibility seriously in tackling the spread of false news.
“Dubawa is a platform that has distinguished itself in cross-checking news stories and presenting the facts to the public, leaving them to draw their own conclusions.
“This forms part of the work we are doing, and that is why we have decided to partner with them.”
Dubawa is an initiative of the Premium Times Center for Investigative Journalism (PTCIJ).