Facebook will start labeling posts by state-controlled media for better transparency ahead of the 2020 US election. According to CNET's latest report, to make it clear where people are acquiring their news, Facebook stated that it will begin labeling links that come from state-controlled media companies.
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Facebook Will Start Labeling State-Controlled Media Posts: Labels Applied Globally in Your News Feed
The social media company said on Thursday, June 5, that the move was decided because these news sources are using the strategic backing of the state, combining it with the influence of media organization. Facebook will also include paid ads from media companies, which will be labeled this summer ahead of the 2020 US presidential elections in November.
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Facebook users will see labels in their news feed since it will be applied globally this week. The social media company consulted with more than 65 governance, human rights, and media experts to decide which media outlets are getting labeled.
Facebook will start labeling state-controlled media posts: Labels applied globally in your newsfeed
Facebook will look at each media company's mission statement to decide which outlet should be labeled. This will include editorial guidelines, ownership structures, funding and revenue sources, newsroom leaders and staff, accountability systems, and also national laws protecting journalistic independence.
Facebook Will Start Labeling State-Controlled Media Posts: Labels Applied Globally in Your News Feed
"Our definition of state-controlled media extends beyond just assessing financial control or ownership and includes an assessment of editorial control exerted by a government," said Facebook. "If we determine that there are enough protections in place to ensure editorial independence, we will not apply the label."
Location information to posts by high-reach Instagram accounts and Facebook pages were also added by the company in April. Accounts and pages were based outside the states that have big audiences inside the U.S. were targeted by Facebook and Instagram to test the feature inside the country.
A message like "This account and many of its followers are based in different locations" or "Account-based in Brazil" will appear when the user swipes up on a page or post. Last week, the social media company came under fire for putting warning labels on posts by U.S. President Donald Trump or for refusing to fact check his posts.
The innovation followed the decision of Twitter to apply a fact-check label that flagged potentially misleading information to a Twitter post by Trump stating that mail-in ballots, which will be used for the November elections, would be substantially fraudulent.
A tweet by the president about the protest in Minnesota sparked by the death of George Floyd, was also labeled by Twitter last week. Trump's tweet was tagged with a warning label that said the post violates Twitter's rules about glorifying violence.
