Instagram Is Removing "Fake News" From the Platform
Introducing a new flagging tool to target misinformation.
Following the huge “meme purge” on Instagram, the platform is now joining Facebook‘s fight against misinformation by introducing a new flagging feature. The new tool is designed to combat “fake news,” and will alert a group of third-party fact-checkers when false information spread on the platform is flagged.
Launching first in the US, the tool can be found in the tree-dot menu in the top-right corner, where you hit “Report” and then “It’s inappropriate,” which will give you the “False information” option. Instagram will then deem whether the post is false or misinformation, and the post will either be suppressed from the explore page or even removed altogether.
“Misinformation is an issue I’ve personally spent a lot of time on. I’m proud that starting today, people can let us know if they see posts on Instagram they believe may be false,” said head of Instagram Adam Mosseri on Twitter, announcing the new tool.
The tool is set to be rolled out at the end of August across all regions, following its initial launch in the United States.
