Facebook Expands Fact-Checking Program to Georgia

Social media giant Facebook announced on September 17 that the platform is expanding its third-party fact-checking program to Georgia starting from the next week.

Myth Detector platform by Media Development Foundation, local media watchdog and Factcheck.ge program run by Georgia’s Reforms Associates (GRASS), another local CSO will be partnering with Facebook as third-party fact-checkers to tackle misinformation spread on the platform.

“When a fact-checker rates a story as false, we show it lower in News Feed, significantly reducing its distribution,” Facebook said, adding that “this stops the hoax from spreading and reduces the number of people who see it.”

It also noted that the pages and domains repeatedly sharing false news will also see their distribution reduced and their ability to monetize and advertise removed. Facebook will warn users seeing the post or trying to share the post that it has been marked as false.

Facebook started its third-party fact-checking program in 2016, working with International Fact-Checking Network-certified fact-checkers around the world to rate and review the accuracy of content on the platform.

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