For the first time in Africa, Facebook’s Fact-Checking Programme Launched in Kenya

Facebook has launched its Fact-Checking programme in Kenya. Fact-Checking Programme is a Third-Party service that will help assess the accuracy of news in Kenya and reduce the spread of misinformation on its platform

Facebook will be working with two third party partners to achieve this aim. This includes Africa Check, Africa’s first independent fact checking organization and AFP, a respected news organization.

These organizations are both part of a global network of fact checking organizations that are certified by the International Fact Checking Network.

Facebook’s fact-checking programme draws its strength from feedback gotten from the Facebook community which serves as one of the many signals Facebook uses to raise potentially false stories to fact-checkers for review.

While speaking during the launch, Facebook Public Policy Director, Ebele Okobi said, “We recognize the potential impact of false news on our platform, and we recognize the role we play in limiting that impact. We believe that a multi-pronged approach is the best strategy, and a key solution is identifying and demoting false news.”

“Once a fact-checker rates a piece of content as false, we’re able to reduce its future views by an average of 80%, helping to curb economic incentives and reduce its spread. These partnerships are just one of our many commitments across Africa to improve the quality of the information on the platform.” Okobi said.

With this service flagged-off in Kenya and hopefully expanding to other African nations later, local articles will now be fact-checked alongside the verification of photos and videos. If a story is identified as fake or false by one of Facebook’s fact-checking partners, Facebook will show it lower in News Feed, which significantly reduces its distribution.

When third-party fact-checkers write articles about a news story, Facebook will show these in Related Articles immediately below the story in News Feed. Page Admins and people on Facebook will also receive notifications if they try to share a story or have shared one in the past that’s been determined to be false, empowering people to decide for themselves what to read, trust, and share.

“We’re pleased to partner with Africa Check and AFP to expand our fact-checking efforts into Africa, and specifically Kenya. Fighting the spread of misinformation via news articles, photos and videos will help to build a better-informed community” said Facebook’s Strategic Partner Manager, Media Partnerships, Jocelyne Muhutu-Remy.

AFP Global News Director Michèle Léridon said they are delighted with this new contract with Facebook in Kenya alongside Africa Check, which is renowned for its fact-checking work in Africa.

” The different initiatives set up by AFP in the fight against disinformation testify to the Agency’s expertise and credibility in the verification of information at a time when false news is proliferating.” he said.

Facebook is showing its commitment to making the internet a safer place to access news.