Facebook is taking another step to make it more difficult to spread misinformation about the coronavirus pandemic. The social network will start surfacing a new pop-up which will appear whenever a user shares a link to the COVID-19 content.
The notification will include a link to the coronavirus information center of the company, and will include details of how old the article is and when it was shared first. Facebook rolled out a related update in June as users post old news articles that surfaces identical alerts.
By introducing an extra layer of context, Facebook aims to stop the dissemination of obsolete or less reliable information (official health organizations such as the WHO are exempted from the notifications) "The warning should help users understand the recency and validity of the material before they post it," Facebook writes in an update.
Facebook has failed to tamp down viral disinformation about the pandemic, given its attempts to elevate news from credible outlets. The company revealed on Tuesday, that it had removed 7 million posts about the coronavirus and added 98 million more fact-checking labels.
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