In the wake of #fakenews scandals the world over, Facebook is changing how it delivers headlines to its users.
The social networking service is closing down their ‘trending’ tab, reports ITV News. The tool launched in 2014 as a way for Facebook to have headlines from different outlets all in one place, which had proven popular for rival Twitter.
Unfortunately, accusations of bias from right-wing groups led to the an algorithm replacing the human team running the tab, which led to an influx of fake news based off popularity rather than, you know, fact.
But the change doesn’t mean Facebook has given up on pushing news entirely.
The company is looking at a number of different ideas, including a breaking news label that publishers can add to their stories, and a greater focus on local news.
Facebook recently revealed that they shut down nearly 600 million fake accounts in just the first three months of 2018 alone, and in that same timeframe moderated 21 million pieces of nudity or sexual activity, 3.4 million instances of graphic violence, 2.5 million pieces of hate speech and 1.9 million posts of terrorist propaganda.
The social media site has also been trialing a Reddit-esque up/down vote system, and is soon planning to launch its very own streaming service called Facebook Watch which will bring both original programming and existing content.
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