Germany is to become the first country outside the US to benefit from Facebook’s crackdown on fake news as the social media group tries to control the proliferation of media hoaxes ahead of elections in the country this year.
The world’s largest social network is bringing its test of fake-news filtering tools to Germany in the coming weeks after the spread of false stories such as one claiming Germany’s oldest church was set on fire by a mob of 1,000 people.
German users of the social network will now be able to report a story as fake and it will be sent to Correctiv, a third-party fact checker. If the fact checker discovers it is fake, the story will be flagged as “disputed”, with an explanation. Disputed stories will not be prioritised by the news feed algorithm and people will receive a warning if they decide to share it.