Social media platforms slammed for lax approach to policing fake news

News Corp can also reveal the social media giant’s fact-checking measures to “safeguard” the election did not start until days after the campaign began.

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“AFP began its fact-checking operations in Australia this week,” Facebook’s fact-checking partner Agence France-Presse (AFP) told News Corp.

It comes as fake anti-immigration quotes from cricket legend Shane Warne went viral on Facebook on Monday, spread by multiple right-wing groups before the initial post and page were deleted.

A Storyful Australia analysis identified Warringah independent candidate Zali Steggall and Labor MP Anne Aly as other targets of fake news.

An image of Ms Steggall’s billboard that was photoshopped to include the ‘GetUp’ logo has been shared across both Facebook and Twitter.

The former Olympian and barrister introduced a “myth busting” section on her campaign website to address such claims.

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Social Media smear campaign targeting Shane Warne.Source:Facebook

AFP’s Asia-Pacific Fact-Check editor Karl Malakunas told News Corp the company would publish its initial Australian fact-checks “in the coming days” on its website.

Facebook refused to disclose how many posts or stories had so far been rated “false” by AFP’s fact-checkers but confirmed it would not remove the posts.

The tech giant will instead merely “demote” inaccurate or deliberately misleading news articles and pictures on its platform, potentially allowing its Australian audience to be tricked by political propaganda.

“Once a story is rated as false, we show it lower in News Feed, reducing its future views by more than 80 per cent on average,” Facebook Australia and New Zealand policy director Mia Garlick said when the social media company confirmed in early April that it would launch fact-checking in Australia.

A spokesman yesterday told News Corp: “We also leverage these ratings to take action on Pages and websites that repeatedly share misinformation.”

“We de-prioritise all content from Pages who repeatedly get ‘false’ ratings on content they share, and we remove their advertising and monetisation rights.”

Experts have slammed the company’s efforts to protect the election as disappointing, with one warning that social media users should treat “every day like April Fool’s Day” to avoid being manipulated.

Dr Belinda Barnet, Senior Lecturer in Media and Communications at UNSW. Picture: You TubeSource:Supplied

Swinburne University social media senior lecturer Dr Belinda Barnet said merely limiting the audience for false information did not go far enough.

“It seems ludicrous that Facebook would employ an agency to tell them whether content was fake or not and then not act on it,” she said.

“If moderators determine content is fake, it should be taken down. They need to remove this content permanently.”

Dr Barnet said Facebook’s failure to remove inaccurate stories showed the company wanted “to be seen to be doing something” to fix its platform but did not want to follow through with action.

Social media commentator Ming Johanson warned that many Australian social media users had poor digital literacy and needed to employ greater scepticism of content circulating online.

“We should treat every day like it’s April Fool’s Day rather than just trusting things blindly,” she said.

“That’s where people are getting scammed.”

Social media commentator Ming Johanson. Picture: FacebookSource:Supplied

It’s understood that Facebook fact-checkers will step in when users report stories as inaccurate or comment on them “expressing disbelief”. The story will then be rated for accuracy and a description of its content provided.

“We let people who try to share the story know there’s more reporting on the subject, and we notify people who shared it earlier,” a Facebook spokesman said.

“We also show the fact-checker’s reference article in Related Articles immediately below the story in News Feed.”

Twitter told News Corp it wouldn’t take any action to check the accuracy of content shared on its platform but would encourage users not to share information they couldn’t verify.

Cricketer Shane Warne was forced to deny making anti-immigration comments after a fake quote attributed to him was shared almost 3000 times on Facebook on Monday.

A page called ‘Future Now News’ posted a photo of Warne with the quote: “I’m worried about where this country is heading. I feel our immigration system isn’t getting things right. Whose team are the politicians batting for? Not Australia.”

Warne later took to Twitter to debunk the post, saying: “Never said that. Someone has made it up.”

The post and the page were removed by Facebook on Tuesday.

Other right-wing pages, including the Australian Tea Party and Australian Protectionist Party pages, shared the post but later removed it.