Reuters, the world’s largest multimedia news provider, announced today that it will expand its efforts to combat misinformation around the world with the launch of fact-checking initiatives in Iraq and Israel, in partnership with Facebook.
The Reuters Fact Check unit will now review content from Facebook and Instagram users in Iraq and Israel and increase its expertise in media verification in Arabic and Hebrew, in addition to the existing verification in English and Spanish. Reuters will investigate claims shared on both platforms, publish its findings on the Reuters Fact Check website and flag false or misleading information to Facebook.
“As misinformation continues to intensify worldwide, especially in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Reuters Fact Check team remains vigilant in their work to verify content and identify inaccuracies. By expanding our work to regions in the Middle East, we aim to reduce potentially inaccurate and harmful jobs for these communities, ”said Hazel Baker, head of UGC Newsgathering, Reuters.
“We are committed to combating the dissemination of misinformation online and building on our fact-checking program by expanding our partnership with Reuters to the Middle East. Our goal is to reduce the spread of misinformation on our platforms, and to show warning labels to people who notice content and notifications before attempting to share them. ”- Keren Goldshlager, News Integrity Partnerships, Facebook
Reuters has launched several attempts in the past year to spot misinformation and manipulated content on social media, including fact-checking initiatives in the United States, the United Kingdom and Singapore and an e-course on detecting manipulated media in 16 languages .
Reuters also continues to work with the National Association of Media Literacy Educators (NAMLE) on a variety of programs, including building an educational resource to help users identify coronavirus misinformation; presenting Media Literacy Week events by bringing together journalists, students and educators to explore the ever-growing information landscape, identify media manipulation and strengthen students’ fact-checking skills; and offers student and classroom awards and mentorship opportunities via a contest during Media Literacy Week.
[Reuters PR blog post]
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