(POLITICO) — “Fact-checkers and academics have greeted the new approach with cautious optimism but also with renewed frustration over Facebook’s refusal to be more open.”
After months of criticism over their refusal to share data on whether efforts to halt the spread of false news are working, Facebook officials told POLITICO they may be ready to slowly open up.
Tessa Lyons, a product manager at Facebook, said the company has invited representatives from the fact-checking groups with whom it has partnered to its Menlo Park, California, headquarters in early February to discuss, in part, what information could finally be shared. Going ahead and doing so would represent a major shift for the social media giant.
While Facebook is unlikely to fully throw open the vault, the meeting could help thaw what has been, at times, a tense relationship with the fact-checking groups — FactCheck.org, PolitiFact, Snopes, The Weekly Standard, and The Associated Press in the United States — it began enlisting shortly after the 2016 election to sweep the platform for misinformation.
Click to continue reading. By JASON SCHWARTZ – Jan 7, 2018.