It’s now 2020, and we’re living at the height of information availability. This means that news has never been more publicly accessible. It also means that misinformation can spread quicker than ever before. Popular social networks are taking steps to prevent this unfortunate trend, hoping to stop ‘fake news’ at the source.
Over the holidays, Instagram announced new safety mesaures to increase public trust in content on the platform. Employing third-party fact-checkers, the network will now flag items tagged as “false” or “partly-false” with a warning. The warning labels ensure that users can be better informed and view that particular content through a more critical eye. Additionally, posts that are repeatedly flagged will be kept off the explore and discover pages, in an attempt to quell the spread of the misinformation. Instagram encourages its users to help as well, with the addition of the “false information” option under the report feature.
What are your thoughts on this Instagram update? Will it make a difference? Let us know in the comments below.
