Facebook is finally taking action against fake news!

After an election season infused with hoax stories, more than a month of global outcry and at least one real-world incident of gun violence in the US, Facebook is finally stepping up to combat the spread of fake news. 

The social network has announced that it will work with fact-checking outlets to label fake stories, flagged by users, as “disputed.”
 
Now before sharing a fake story on the site, you’ll get a warning that its accuracy has been disputed. To find out why, you’ll be able to click a link for a fact-check of the article.

The updates are rolling out this week, so you won’t see the disputed flags right away, but expect them shortly.

Facebook also announced several other steps that chief executive Mark Zuckerberg had hinted at in a post last month.

It’s too early to know whether these efforts will be effective in combating the problem, which is perhaps larger in scope than many initially realized.

The company is finally coming to terms with the fake news problem. For now, Facebook will be working only with Snopes, FactCheck.org, Politifact, ABC News and the Associated Press, but hopes to add more as the site figures out what works.

While other sites, including Reddit and Twitter, have made some moves recently to combat fake news and vile trolling, Facebook is the last one to do so.

With its 1.8 billion monthly users, Facebook is a critical platform for news distribution. News websites now get a majority of their traffic from Facebook, as internet users switch from visiting home pages on desktops to using apps on their mobile devices. In the U.S., 44% of American adults get news on Facebook (source).

A false copyright message is rapidly spreading across Facebook. Don't waste your time copy & pasting.

"In response to the new Facebook guidelines, I hereby declare that my copyright is attached to all of my personal details, illustrations, comics, paintings, professional photos and videos, etc. (as a result of the Berner Convention). For commercial use of the above my written consent is needed at all times!"

You may have seen that very message pop up -- perhaps time and time again -- in your Facebook feed. The message has been making the rounds on the social network. It encourages people to copy and paste the text and post it on their own walls if they want to be placed "under protection of copyright laws."

It's a frightful message and those worried that Facebook will own their photos or other media are posting it -- unaware that it is a hoax. Here's the truth: Facebook doesn't own your media and there is no such thing as the Berner Convention.

"We have noticed some statements that suggest otherwise and we wanted to take a moment to remind you of the facts -- when you post things like photos to Facebook, we do not own them," Facebook spokesman Andrew Noyes said in a statement. "Under our terms (https://www.facebook.com/legal/terms), you grant Facebook permission to use, distribute, and share the things you post, subject to the terms and applicable privacy settings." 

Brad Shear, a Washington-area attorney and blogger who is an expert on social media, said the message was "misleading and not true." He said that when you agree to Facebook's terms of use you provide Facebook a "non-exclusive, transferable, royalty-free, worldwide license to use any content you post. You do not need to make any declarations about copyright issues since the law already protects you.  The privacy declaration [in this message] is worthless and does not mean anything."

 

Facebook users cannot retroactively negate any of the privacy or copyright terms they agreed to when they signed up for their Facebook accounts nor can they unilaterally alter or contradict terms instituted by Facebook simply by posting a contrary legal notice on their Facebook walls.

This isn't the first time a message like this has popped up on Facebook. A similar message made the rounds in June and a few years ago as well. 

Bottom line? Don't bother copying, pasting, and posting. It was a hoax before and is still a hoax now.