Facebook to test community fact checking program

Facebook on Tuesday announced plans for a pilot program where community reviewers will evaluate content that is flagged as potentially containing misinformation to assist third-party fact checkers.

Product manager Henry Silverman explained in a blog post that having a representative group of users look over content will provide “additional context” for the third-party fact checkers that will ultimately determine if posts are false.

The reviewers will be hired as contractors through Facebook partners and make no final decisions on content.

The program will “allow fact-checkers to quickly see whether a representative group of Facebook users found a claim to be corroborated or contradicted,” Silverman wrote Tuesday, accelerating the fact checking process.

Facebook partnered with survey firm YouGov to determine requirements for selecting community reviewers to ensure they represent the “diverse viewpoints” of the social media giant’s user base.

The program will be tested in the U.S. “over the coming months.”

Facebook has come under fire in recent months for its approach to false and misleading content.

For example, progressive groups have slammed the platform for partnering with a fact-checker funded by a right-leaning news outlet the Daily Caller.

The company’s decision to not apply community guidelines about false content to political figures, except under limited circumstances, has similarly been hit from the left.