Exhibit 2: How Our Fact-Checking Program Works (Facebook, August 11, 2020) — Children's Health Defense v. Facebook, Case 3:20-cv-05787, Doc. 69-3 (Filed 12/21/20)
Summary
Document 69-3, Filed 12/21/20, in Case 3:20-cv-05787-SI, carrying Exhibit 2: a Facebook Programs page dated AUG 11, 2020, headed How Our Fact-Checking Program Works. The page states that Facebook relies on independent fact-checkers to identify and review potential misinformation, and sets out Identify, Review, and Act as the sequence. For ratings, it names False, Altered, Partly False, and Missing Context, and says partners can also mark content True or Satire. Under Act, the page states that some of these actions may include Reduced Distribution, Sharing Warning, Sharing Notifications, Misinformation Labels, and Removing Incentives for Repeat Offenders.
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- Date
- 2020-12-21
Cite this document
“Exhibit 2: How Our Fact-Checking Program Works (Facebook, August 11, 2020) — Children's Health Defense v. Facebook, Case 3:20-cv-05787, Doc. 69-3 (Filed 12/21/20).”
Original at archive.org, dated 2020-12-21. Archived at Pandemic Darlings, https://pandemicdarlings.com/source-documents/2020-12-21-covid-era-misc-9759b0fb-1/
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Case 3:20-cv-05787-SI Document 69-3 Filed 12/21/20 Page 1 of 7
Exhibit 2
Case 3:20-cv-05787-SI Document 69-3 Filed 12/21/20 Page 2 of 7
PROGRAMS — AUG 11, 2020
How Our Fact-Checking Program Works
Facebook’s Approach to Fact-Checking: How It Works
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Since we do not believe that a private company like Facebook should be the arbiters of truth, we rely
on independent fact-checkers to identify and review potential misinformation, which enables us to
take action.
1 Identify
We identify potential misinformation using a variety of signals, and our fact-checking partners
can also proactively identify content on their own.
2 Review
Fact-checkers review and rate the accuracy of stories through original reporting, including
interviewing primary sources, consulting public data and conducting analyses of media,
including photos and video.
3 Act
Once we have a rating from a fact-checking partner, we take action by ensuring that fewer
people see that misinformation by surfacing fact-check articles to users across our platforms
and showing labels on top of false stories.
1. IDENTIFY
How does Facebook use technology to detect potential misinformation?
We use a number of signals to predict content that might be misinformation, and surface it to fact-
checkers.
For example, we use feedback from our users who flag content they see in their News Feed as being
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potentially false. We also look at other user patterns, like people commenting and saying that they
don’t believe a certain post.
We also use machine learning models to continuously improve our ability to predict misinformation.
We feed ratings from our fact-checking partners back into this model, so that we get better and better
over time at predicting content that could be false.
2. REVIEW
What ratings options can fact-checking partners choose from?
There are several rating options that third-party fact-checkers can apply to content.
False
Content that has no basis in fact.
Altered
Image, audio, or video content that has been edited or synthesized beyond adjustments for clarity
or quality, in ways that could mislead people.
Partly False
Content that has some factual inaccuracies.
Missing Context
Content that may mislead without additional context.
Although our focus is on identifying misinformation, fact-checking partners can also let us know if
content they’ve reviewed is True or Satire.
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3. ACT
How does Facebook take action based on fact-checkers’ ratings?
When False, Altered, Partly False or Missing Context is selected by a fact-checking partner, we take
action. Some of these actions may include:
Reduced Distribution
We show the piece of content lower in News Feed, significantly reducing its distribution. And on
Instagram, we remove it from Explore and hashtag pages and downrank content in feed and
Stories.
Sharing Warning
When someone tries to share a post that’s been rated by a fact-checker, we’ll show them a pop-
up notice so people can decide for themselves what to read, trust, and share.
Sharing Notifications
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If someone has shared a story that is later determined by fact-checkers to be false, we notify
them that there is additional reporting on that piece of content.
Misinformation Labels
We apply a clear, visual label to content that has been debunked by fact-checkers, and surface
their fact-checking articles for additional context.
Removing Incentives for Repeat Offenders
When Pages or websites repeatedly share content that’s been debunked by fact-checking
partners, they will see their overall distribution reduced, and will lose the ability to advertise or
monetize within a given time period.
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