Facebook: Assigns Ellinika Hoaxes fact-checking

They reached an agreement Facebook and Ellinika Hoaxes, in order to reduction of misinformation in Greece, through the popular social networking platform.

Τα Ellinika Hoaxes will be even more actively involved in the fight against misinformation, taking control of content such as articles, videos and images circulating on the platform.

Facebook has launched an effort to combat misinformation since 2016, recruiting fact-checkers from around the world as part of the third-party fact-checking (3PFC) initiative to strengthen reliability of the material circulating through the platform.

How will it be done

Facebook users in Greece will now be able to tag content that they think may be fake. Our team will look at these reports and describe them as:

• true,
• false,
• combination (mixing facts and falsifications),
• false titles,
• do not meet the criteria for evaluation,
• satire,
• views,
• pranks,
• have not been evaluated.

For example, if, after evaluation by our team, a claim is deemed "false", the content will appear lower in the platform updates and will be accompanied by a relevant warning, with reference to our explanatory article. Users will in no way be prevented from posting a claim, regardless of our evaluation. Ellinika Hoaxes will not have any access to any user's personal data. They will also not know which users have reported fake content.

"TEllinika Hoaxes now enjoy international recognition for their credibility and professionalism in journalistic research and in particular in news verification. Working with Facebook will offer us many more opportunities to respond immediately to the scourge of misinformation, which is a threat to the foundations of democracy. Our goal has always been to properly inform the citizen, so that he is able to make the right decisions for himself and his country, especially in times like the current one, where the European elections can be targeted by using false news. By allying with Facebook, we have the opportunity to have a greater impact, but also to work more directly with the users of the popular social networking platform. The contribution of users, through the reports they will submit, will be particularly beneficial for the entire online community, for Facebook, but also for us, as it will enable us to respond more immediately to "suspicious" content.Said the founder of the website, Theodoros Daniilidis.

The program now includes 21 partners who control content in 14 European languages: Croatian, Danish, French, German, Greek, Italian, Portuguese, Spanish, Dutch, English, Lithuanian, Polish, Swedish and Norwegian. When a partner evaluates a news item as false, it appears lower in the news feed, significantly reducing its spread. This reduces the spread of the news and the number of people who see it. Repeatedly sharing fake news pages and domains will also reduce their spread and eliminate their ability to generate revenue and ads. This helps eliminate fake news with financial incentives. From the experience of Facebook, when a news item has been classified as false, it has managed to reduce its spread by 80%.

«We are pleased to announce today our partnership in Greece with Ellinika Hoaxes based on our priority to combat misinformation and the spread of false news on Facebook and in Greece, in view of the upcoming European elections. Misinformation is a complex and evolving problem and we invest a lot in solving it, because we believe that we provide space for citizens' discussions during the election period. We will continue to take steps to ensure that this debate is safe, authentic and accurate.Said on her part the Laura Bononcini, Director of Public Policy in South East Europe.

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