Facebook Debuts Tool To Flag Fake News

LOS ANGELES (CBSLA.com) — Facebook has rolled out a new tool to flag fake news stories as "disputed."

The giant social network says it will flag any stories that have been debunked by third-party fact-checkers.

Once it's determined to be false, the content will remain on Facebook, but with a "disputed" tag and a link to a site explaining why, according to a media advisory released by the company in December.

In a statement released by Facebook CEO and co-founder Mark Zuckerberg in November, he said: "We take misinformation seriously. Our goal is to connect people with the stories they find most meaningful, and we know people want accurate information. We've been working on this problem for a long time and we take this responsibility seriously. We've made significant progress, but there is more work to be done."

The company also urges users to report hoaxes by clicking the upper right-hand corner of a post as displayed below.

BuzzFeed News reports Facebook users who rely on the site for news are more likely to fall for the disputed stories.

A Pew Research Center survey finds that one-fourth of Americans share fake news stories all the time.