In order to check questionable reports, WhatsApp users will in future be able to send them to a chatbot for fact checking.

Social media and messenger services such as WhatsApp are often used to spread false news, which has been proven at the latest during the Corona pandemic.

Facebook has now decided to integrate the services of the chatbot from the AFP news agency for WhatsApp.

Have questionable messages checked

If you receive a message via WhatsApp in the future where you are not sure about the veracity of the content, you can send it to 0172 2524054.

The recipient is the chatbot, which compares the content of the transmitted message with messages that have already been checked and provides feedback if something is wrong.

For reports that are not yet known, an AFP editor is deployed to support the bot where it cannot find a solution itself.

Facebook and WhatsApp lead the way in fake news

According to Statista , Facebook and its associated services such as WhatsApp top the list of platforms used to spread fake news. The only thing that can hold a candle to them here is Telegram, Statista continues. However, there is neither moderation nor control here, which has led the lateral thinker movement to increasingly use Telegram for their communication.

AFP press release

On August 23rd, the AFP issued a press release .

“This is an important development for AFP's global and successful fact-checking strategy. Especially in an election year, it is important that misinformation from private groups on WhatsApp becomes more visible,” explains AFP Global News Director Phil Chetwynd.

With the fact checks, which are carried out via a chatbot, they want to reach people where they are online every day, because around 80 percent of German internet users use WhatsApp.

“The artificial intelligence of our chatbot learns with every request. With its help, we can respond quickly and accurately to a large number of inquiries,” says Max Biederbeck, head of the fact check department for Germany, Austria and Switzerland. “During the last federal election, experts still feared the influence of uncontrollable 'dark social' channels on the election campaign. We provide users with an ideal tool against false information, which has so far been able to spread unhindered on WhatsApp.”

You might also be interested in: Facebook evaluation: the most clicked status post was a fake news article!

Source: golem.de , AFP


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