Facebook to Ask Its News Feed Users to Rank News Organizations They Trust
Facebook unveiled major changes to the News Feed of its 2 billion users, announcing it will rank news organizations by credibility based on user feedback and diminish its role as an arbiter of the news people see, reports The Washington Post, which added that the move “comes after the company endured harsh criticism for allowing disinformation to spread on its social network and for favoring liberal outlets over conservative ones. In a blog post accompanying the announcement, chief executive Mark Zuckerberg wrote Facebook is not “comfortable” deciding which news sources are the most trustworthy in a “world with so much division.”
“”We decided that having the community determine which sources are broadly trusted would be most objective,” he wrote.
“The new trust rankings will emerge from surveys the company is conducting. “Broadly trusted” outlets that are affirmed by a significant cross-section of users may see a boost in readership, while less known organizations or start-ups receiving poor ratings could see their web traffic decline significantly on the social network. The company’s changes include an effort to boost the content of local news outlets, which have suffered sizable subscription and readership declines as news consumption migrated online.”
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