Facebook launches campaign to combat fake news during general election

Social media giant Facebook has launched a campaign to help stem the flow of 'fake news' during the UK general election campaign.

As part of its efforts, Facebook has paid for 'old media' advertisements in several British newspapers, which includes tips for spotting and dealing with falsified news stories.

Britons will go to the polls on 8 June after Prime Minister Theresa May called a snap election last month.

The move from the Mark Zuckerberg-founded company follows similar actions to newspaper ads it launched in France and Germany earlier this year.

Britons will go to the polls on 8 June after Prime Minister Theresa May called a snap election

Among other actions announced by the company is the deletion of thousands of fake profile pages, as well as a vow to stop promoting posts which appear to contain false claims.

The site came under pressure during the US presidential election campaign last year, which saw social media streams inundated with a variety of posts with unsubstantiated news stories.

Facebook said its expected the changes would help "reduce the spread of material generated through inauthentic activity, including spam, misinformation, or other deceptive content that is often shared by creators of fake accounts".

Simon Milner, the tech firm’s director of policy in the UK, said: “People want to see accurate information on Facebook and so do we. That is why we are doing everything we can to tackle the problem of false news.

“We have developed new ways to identify and remove fake accounts that might be spreading false news so that we get to the root of the problem.”

Facebook also announced a partnership with fact-checking organisation campaign Full Fact, whose staff will be doubled for the upcoming UK election.

Among the tips released via the British newspapers, there is advice to be wary of "skeptical headlines", and how to investigate a site's sources.