Facebook Steps Up Efforts To Spot Fake News In India
Facebook extends fact-checking program with BOOM Live and partners with Asian College of Journalism to train future journalists.
Social networking giant Facebook expanded its partnership with BOOM Live to provide fact-checking capabilities in Hindi and Bengali as well as fact-check photos and videos.
In April, the U.S.-based company had introduced a third-party fact-checking programme in India with BOOM Live to combat the spread of "false news" on its platform with a pilot in Karnataka ahead of elections in the state.
"Following fact-checking in English during the Karnataka pilot stage, BOOM Live will now also provide fact-checking capabilities in Hindi and Bengali, and will also fact-check photos and videos, in addition to article links," Facebook said in a statement.
BOOM was mandated to review English language news stories flagged on Facebook, check facts, and rate their accuracy, it said.
Facebook is running similar initiatives in France, Italy, the Netherlands, Germany, Mexico, Indonesia, the Philippines and the U.S.
In the recent past, Facebook has drawn intense criticism from users and governments globally over a number of issues, ranging from false news on the platform to information of over 80 million users being mined by data analytics and political consulting firm, Cambridge Analytica.
Besides, Facebook has collaborated with the Asian College of Journalism to establish a Facebook Journalism Project Scholarship programme in India.
"We believe our students will benefit from this powerful initiative. It will provide valuable hands-on experience and the expertise to distinguish informative and trust-worthy news," Sashi Kumar, Chairperson of ACJ, said.
This scholarship programme will support five students from ACJ across four chosen career specialisations: Print, New Media, Radio and Television, the statement said.
"Just as the business of news is constantly changing, the skills and capabilities of our future journalists must also evolve," Brown said.
Disclaimer: Bloomberg has partnered with The Asian College of journalism to offer the Bloomberg-ACJ financial journalism programme.