Facebook launches fact-checking service on WhatsApp in Italy to fight coronavirus hoaxes
Facebook Inc. introduced a service in Italy to check the precision of the information on coronavirus circulating on its messaging platform WhatsApp, the U.S. tech company stated on Thursday.
In a recent effort to fight controlled material, Facebook stated it was dealing with regional fact-checking service Facta which is examining content circulating on WhatsApp, including video, audio, or photos.
Users can send out material to Facta through a WhatsApp message to check it is authentic.
WhatsApp is the most popular messaging platform in Italy, the center of a coronavirus break out in Europe.
Traffic on the platform has increased since the government put the country under lockdown as users turned to social media to keep in touch.
However, the messaging app has also been a vehicle for hoaxes over alleged dramatic situations in videos and hospitals claiming that the virus, which has killed 13,915 people in Italy, had been developed in a lab – or did not exist at all.
WhatsApp, which has 2 billion users worldwide, has been trying to find ways to stop the platform from being utilized to spread fake news.
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