Facebook has also added new tools to help Facebook Groups users block fake news.
Facebook Admin-Assist-1
Facebook is trying to live up to its promises to do something about fake news on the social network that might affect the 2016 Presidential election. It has now removed no fewer than 216 false or misleading ads that were posted which claimed that Joe Biden would not stop Immigration from countries like Somalia in spite of the Covid-19 crisis, CBS has reported.
“We rejected these ads because we don’t allow claims that people’s physical safety, health, or survival is threatened by people on the basis of their national origin or immigration status,” a Facebook spokesperson told CBS News via email.
The last time there seemed to be no limit to how far people would go in the spread of disinformation from accusing Hillary Clinton of murdering Seth Rich to claiming that she was behind a sex trafficking cabal based out of a Washington DC pizzeria.
This news comes as Facebook on Thursday announced its new feature called “Admin Assist” for the many Facebook Groups. You know the ones. Your office uses them to share information, or you might be part of a community group, or one for used stuff for sale. Or you may have been invited into a temporary group for someone’s birthday party.
The new tool was created to help Facebook groups control the flow of fake news posts.
VP of Engineering for the Facebook app Tom Alison told CNN Business, “of course, there’s a role for admins and moderators to play. That’s why we’re investing so much into tools to help groups maintain healthy conversations and set the tone for what they want to talk about.”
“We know that there’s still a ton of work here to be done,” Alison added. “One of the scenarios that we’re looking at is if the election results are not clear, we’re going to be working with Reuters to make sure that people have an accurate view of what’s going on.”
The new features include the following:
Admin Assist: Set rules so Facebook can help moderate posts in your group for you. For example, you can decline posts with certain keywords or from people who haven’t been in the group very long or whose posts have been reported in the past.
New Topics: Organize content by topic with hashtags and pin a topic to the top of the group to highlight it for everyone.
Branded Content for Public Groups: Use the Brand Collabs Manager to make money from your Public groups by connecting with brands looking to promote their products and services.
Community Management Certification: Take an online course on how to build, grow and support your communities through a set curriculum and exam.
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