Fighting Falsehoods, Facebook Issues Heavier Penalties

Facebook has rolled out a new penalty for those who repeatedly share misinformation. Instead of simply reducing the reach of a user’s single misinformed post, Facebook will now muffle all of that user’s posts.

Facebook Makes Misinformation Less Attractive

Facebook is making it even harder to encounter and share misinformation on the platform. In a post onthe About Facebook blog , Facebook announced that it’s launching a new penalty for users who repeatedly share misinformation.

Facebook already lessens a post’s reach if it contains misinformation, but the platform wants to take this a step further. If a user has shared misinformation several times in the past, Facebook plans to “reduce the distribution of all posts in News Feed from an individual’s Facebook account.”

This means that anyone who is friends with or follows that user will really have to dig through their News Feed in order to find that person’s posts, whether they contain misinformation or not. Facebook’s new penalty might be a bit extreme, but the platform clearly believes that this will put a stop to the spread of misinformation.

Facebook Is Also Pushing New Notifications

Facebook has also rolled out a new notification that informs users if they’re about to like a Page that has been repeatedly fact-checked. If a user tries to follow a Page that has shared misinformation multiple times, Facebook will ask the user to reconsider their decision.

The notification reads: “This Page has repeatedly shared false information. Independent fact-checkers said the information is false.” Users can then chooseGo Back to continue to review the Page’s posts, or they can selectFollow Page Anyway , to like the page regardless of the warning.

Image Credit: Facebook

Facebook has also revamped its notification that tells users if a post they shared was later debunked by fact-checkers. Now, the notification will tell users why a post was fact-checked, and will also include a brief explanation from the fact-checker.

Image Credit: Facebook

The notification also warns users that people “who repeatedly share false information might have their posts moved lower in News Feed so other people are less likely to see them.” Users will then have the choice to either delete their post, or they can click a link to find out more about Facebook’s fact-checking policies.

Will Facebook’s Strict Misinformation Policies Pay Off?

It seems like Facebook has been battling a neverending war against misinformation, and it has only gotten fiercer since the 2020 presidential election and the COVID-19 pandemic.

Facebook’s new notifications and penalties will likely deter users from sharing debunked content, but that definitely won’t stop them from posting to alternative social platforms.