Facebook Starts Labeling 'State-Controlled Media' Posts

Facebook in labeling state-controlled media

Governments have the rights to control what should and shouldn't happen within their territory. But when it comes to information, transparency is the key of believing.

Facebook is the social giant of the web. And here, it starts to label state-controlled media on the social network, because it believes that "people should know if the news they read is coming from a publication that may be under the influence of a government."

This move was first announced back in October 2019, as part of larger efforts for the company to fight misleading information during elections.

In the post announcing the update, Facebook said that:

"We want to help people better understand who’s behind the news they see on Facebook. Several months ago, we announced our plan to label media outlets that are wholly or partially under the editorial control of their government, and today we’re starting to apply labels to those state-controlled media outlets."

And to ensure transparency when it comes to paid content from those sources, Facebook said that it wants to also label ads from them.

"State-controlled media outlets rarely advertise in the US. Nevertheless, later this summer we will begin blocking ads from these outlets in the US out of an abundance of caution to provide an extra layer of protection against various types of foreign influence in the public debate ahead of the November 2020 election in the US," the company said.

To do this, Facebook is showing the labels globally in its Ad Library Page view, on Pages, and in its Page Transparency section.

And especially in the U.S., Facebook said that the labels are to appear on posts in News Feed, as well.

And to make sure that Facebook is doing the right thing, the company has consulted more than 65 experts around the world specializing in media, governance, and human rights and development.

"The input we received from these organizations was crucial to understanding the different ways and degrees to which governments exert editorial control over media entities," Facebook said.

"We know that governments continue to use funding mechanisms to control media, but this alone doesn’t tell the full story. That’s why our definition of state-controlled media extends beyond just assessing financial control or ownership and includes an assessment of editorial control exerted by a government."

Facebook in labeling state-controlled media
Facebook in labeling state-controlled media. (Credit: Facebook)

To decide which should or shouldn't be labeled, Facebook is looking into several factors, which include:

  • Mission statement, mandate, and/or public reporting on how the organization defines and accomplishes its journalistic mission.
  • Ownership structure such as information on owners, stakeholders, board members, management, government appointees in leadership positions, and disclosure of direct or indirect ownership by entities or individuals holding elected office.
  • Editorial guidelines such as transparency around sources of content and independence and diversity of sources.
  • Information about newsroom leadership and staff.
  • Sources of funding and revenue.
  • Governance and accountability mechanisms such as correctional policies, procedure for complaints, external assessments and oversight boards.

And if it determines that there are enough protections in place to ensure editorial independence, Facebook won't apply the labeling.

Let's not forget the fact that countries may have different editorial independence and freedom of press. For this reasons, Facebook is also considering those factors, as it consults with open-source research conducted by academics and leading experts.

As for publishers who think that they have been subjected to labeling due to an error, they can submit an appeal. Through the appeal, they should be able to provide some necessary information about the issue.

Published: 
06/06/2020