Fake news: inquiries in the UK and filtering tools in Germany

The British Parliament is planning to launch an inquiry into fake news. Sessions with executives at Facebook, Google and Twitter are expected to be planned by late spring or early summer. According to Damian Collins, who chairs the cross-party committee leading the inquiry, social media companies ‘have a responsibility to ensure their platforms are not being used to spread malicious content.’

Facebook has announced to start testing its fake news filtering tools in Germany. The tools would allow Facebook’s users to flag news stories as fake, and these allegations will then be verified by a third-party fact checker. If the story is verified as fake news, Facebook will label it as ‘disputed’ and will de-prioritise it in its news feed algorithm.