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Facebook Launches 3rd-Party Fact-Checking in Bangladesh

Facebook today announced the introduction of its third-party fact-checking service in Bangladesh as part of its continuing attempts to reduce the dissemination of disinformation and enhance the accuracy of online content. Facebook will collaborate with BOOM, which has been accredited by the non-partisan Multinational Fact-Checking Network of the Poynter Foundation.

Starting today, BOOM will monitor and assess the authenticity of Facebook posts, like images and videos in Bangladesh, according to a press release from the social networking giant. If third-party fact-checkers mark an article as fake, it would show lower in the News Stream, greatly limiting its circulation. Facebook still deals with BOOM in other countries, such as India and Myanmar.

"We know that people want to see accurate information on Facebook and we are excited to announce the continued growth of our third-party fact-checking program through our partnership with BOOM for Bangladesh. We believe that with this fact-checking program, we can help build a more informed community and look forward to exploring more opportunities to expand this program locally," said Anjali Kapoor, Facebook's News Partnership Director, APAC.

This initiative falls in accordance with Facebook's three-part structure to enhance the accuracy and credibility of news feed content. If third-party fact-checkers write stories on a piece of material, they will be seen directly below the report in the news stream via Facebook in the Related Posts. Page admins and people on Facebook will also receive notifications if they try to share a post or have shared one that's been determined to be false, empowering people to decide for themselves what to read, trust, and share.

"BOOM is delighted to expand our fact check operation into Bangladesh, with a dedicated team on the ground, where we'll debunk online misinformation on topics from health and medicine to current affairs. Fact-checking is at the core of what we do and we are hopeful that with this effort, readers in Bangladesh will get the information they need to make informed decisions and be able to better identify factual news and information online," said Govind Ethiraj, Founder-Editor of BOOM.

In addition to third-party fact-checking, Facebook actively promotes programs to enable users with digital and news literacy skills to determine for themselves what to learn, trust and post. This is achieved by supporting news literacy campaigns worldwide and providing information to help detect fake news and educate viewers with more context on the content they encounter in the news feed. In Bangladesh specifically, Facebook partnered with Banglalink for the second time earlier this year to launch a digital literacy program -- Internet 101. The program works to ensure that users understand internet safety best practices through one-on-one training sessions at each of Banglalink's 3,000 retail locations. The program will also reach out to 1,600 college students through Youth Connect discussion forums at select universities to talk about digital literacy and online safety.

Facebook's fact-checking initiative began in December 2016, and today more than 60 collaborators have already reviewed the material in more than 50 languages. The software often depends on input from the Facebook audience as a warning to submit obviously misleading news to the fact-checkers for analysis. This is the latest in a series of Facebook's efforts to curb false news and Facebook will continue exploring efforts to support building an informed community.

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