Ways To Stop The Spread Of Fake News

Fake news has been a highly debated issue. In the US, fake news is said to have motivated a gunman who opened fire at a Washington pizzeria. In the post-election period, it's been widely debated if fake news swayed voters towards Donald Trump. 

In Europe, fake news campaigns have been reported in countries that will soon go to the polls, such as Germany and Czech Republic. As a result, the European Union raised the alarm, setting up a special taskforce to counter disinformation. 

The battle against fake news is beginning, albeit slowly. There are a number of different methods to tackle the issue, with various social media sites and search engines employing diverse mechanisms. 

This BBC article offers a comprehensive analysis of some of the most promising techniques, describing currently available ways to crack down on phoney news. The BBC shows that companies approach the problem from different angles. For example, Facebook flags and down-ranks fake news with the help of human fact checkers. Other solutions include the use of algorithms, restricted advertisement and even criminalisation.

The BBC's article is a good starting point for understanding how the spread of inaccurate information can be reduced. As the BBC states, "there may be actual solutions to the spread of fake news." Indeed, innovation and combined efforts, including those described in this article, could be the keys to resisting the onslaught of fake news and fake facts.

You can be part of the war on fake news, too. For example, as described in the article, you can install a web extension called Decodex. Developed by the French newspaper Le Monde, it is based on a database of 600 mostly French, but also international websites. "You just put it on your browser and then when you come to a fake news site you get a pop up appearing saying 'warning this is a fake news site'," says Samuel Laurent, editor of Les Decodeurs.