Neowin News Feed for: Misinformation

WhatsApp beta adds new Meta AI fact-check tool

Paul Hill — Sat, 23 Aug 2025 06:08:01 +0000

Meta has released a new WhatsApp beta that allows you to quickly forward messages to Meta AI to get them fact-checked. This could hinder the spread of misinformation. Read more...

TikTok is testing its own version of Community Notes, called Footnotes

David Uzondu — Wed, 16 Apr 2025 21:00:01 +0000

X's Community Notes model seems to be catching the attention of other social platforms, and now TikTok is the latest to take a swing at it. Read more...

Meta says it will continue using fact-checkers outside the U.S. "for now"

Karthik Mudaliar — Tue, 21 Jan 2025 07:28:01 +0000

Meta's Community Notes won't appear for users outside the U.S., at least for some more time, as Meta has intended to bring the feature only for U.S.-based users. Read more...

YouTube declares war against "egregious clickbait" thumbnails and titles in India

Aditya Tiwari — Wed, 18 Dec 2024 18:46:01 +0000

YouTube announced that it will start a major crackdown against video titles and thumbnails that are clickbait in nature. The stricter rules will be enforced in India over the coming months. Read more...

Telegram CEO Pavel Durov releases first public statement since his arrest in France

Martin Hodás — Fri, 06 Sep 2024 07:54:01 +0000

In his first statement since his arrest, Pavel Durov blames French authorities, yet he promises to do more to stop criminals abusing Telegram. Read more...

Telegram releases official statement as its CEO remains in French custody

Martin Hodás — Mon, 26 Aug 2024 10:26:02 +0000

Popular messenger app Telegram insists it complies with EU law and claims that its detained CEO Pavel Durov has nothing to hide. The platform is known for ignoring authorities and even the media. Read more...

Meta says the candidates are subject to the same rules as regular users. It's a blatant lie

Martin Hodás — Sun, 14 Jul 2024 15:00:01 +0000

Meta is failing its users by not fact-checking Trump and other political figures. It does so under the false argument of free speech and self-imposed reach limitations that it can easily lift. Read more...

OpenAI can clone your voice with little to no input, and it wants to talk about it with you

Martin Hodás — Sun, 31 Mar 2024 05:26:01 +0000

OpenAI's new powerful model can create a realistic clone of your voice based on just 15 seconds of your speech. However, the company hesitates to release the tool amid concerns about its misuse. Read more...

Meta kills data tool that helped researchers uncover shady stuff on Facebook, Instagram

Martin Hodás — Fri, 15 Mar 2024 14:30:01 +0000

Widely-used social media data tool CrowdTangle will officially shut down just weeks before U.S. Presidential election. Meta claims it created an even more powerful successor, but can we believe it? Read more...

Google's fact checking tool now works with images, currently in beta

Aditya Tiwari — Thu, 29 Jun 2023 19:36:01 +0000

Google's fact checking tool can now be used to verify the authenticity of an image. The feature is currently in beta and requires interested users to join a waitlist to try it out. Read more...

YouTube reverses course, will not take down controversial or disproven political content

Paul Hill — Fri, 02 Jun 2023 21:10:01 +0000

YouTube has announced that it'll allow potential misinformation on its platform again just in time for the next election. It said it still has measures in place against vote discouragement and more. Read more...

Twitter launches Community Notes to tackle the spread of misleading media

Anushe Fawaz — Wed, 31 May 2023 13:14:01 +0000

Due to the growing use of AI, Twitter is having trouble preventing the spread of misleading content across its platform. Today, it has announced Community Notes as an attempt to handle the issue. Read more...

Meta layoffs affected the teams that were fighting fake news on Facebook

Paul Hill — Fri, 26 May 2023 18:40:01 +0000

As part of its layoffs, Meta let engineers go who were working on a fact-checking feature for Facebook. The feature has now been scrapped but would have added fact-checking comments above articles. Read more...

Google and YouTube detail their fact-checking initiatives

Usama Jawad — Wed, 30 Nov 2022 02:42:02 +0000

Google and YouTube have announced a $13.2 million grant to the International Fact-Checking Network (IFCN) to help fund organizations fighting fake news in 80 languages across 65 countries. Read more...

Microsoft hints that labeling fake news as 'false' could be misinterpreted as censorship

Alap Naik Desai — Wed, 21 Sep 2022 22:42:01 +0000

Microsoft might not label fake news as "false". The company seems concerned that the topic is heavily politicized, and hence might go after creators and distributors of disinformation campaigns. Read more...

White House reveals plans for big tech with focus on privacy, transparency, and youth safety

Usama Jawad — Fri, 09 Sep 2022 05:42:01 +0000

U.S. President Joe Biden's administration has laid out plans for a legislative reform in areas concerning big tech firms. The focus is on transparency of algorithms, privacy, and youth safety. Read more...

Meta outlines its strategy to combat misinformation ahead of 2022 U.S. midterm elections

Alap Naik Desai — Tue, 16 Aug 2022 20:48:01 +0000

Meta has an official policy to combat misinformation campaigns that could flare up before the upcoming 2022 U.S. Midterm elections. Facebook will offer better access to official information. Read more...

Twitter formally adopts 'Crisis Misinformation' policy to tackle fake news and propaganda

Alap Naik Desai — Fri, 20 May 2022 11:18:01 +0000

Twitter has ratified and formally adopted a “Crisis Misinformation” policy to cleanse the platform of misleading or fake news and propaganda during emergencies such as armed conflicts and disasters. Read more...

DuckDuckGo CEO says Russian disinformation websites are being down-ranked

Paul Hill — Thu, 10 Mar 2022 19:40:02 +0000

DuckDuckGo's CEO has announced that the search engine will now down-rank websites linked to Russian disinformation. The move comes two weeks after Russia began its invasion of Ukraine. Read more...

YouTube de-monetises some Russian channels over Ukraine invasion

Paul Hill — Sun, 27 Feb 2022 08:12:01 +0000

YouTube has de-monetised several Russian YouTube channels, including RT, over their coverage of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. It's also limiting its recommendations to these channels' videos. Read more...

Twitter permanently suspends U.S. congresswoman's account for coronavirus misinformation

Usama Jawad — Mon, 03 Jan 2022 06:30:02 +0000

Twitter has permanently suspended U.S. congresswoman's Marjorie Taylor Greene's account for repeatedly posting fake news related to COVID-19 and vaccines. Her government account remains live. Read more...

Meta's new Few-Shot Learner can detect misinformation with fewer or no examples

Paul Hill — Thu, 09 Dec 2021 00:10:01 +0000

Meta has deployed a new AI technology called Few-Shot Learner. It allows the company to train AI models much more quickly allowing it to take action against harmful content faster. Read more...

YouTube clamps down further on vaccine misinformation

Paul Hill — Wed, 29 Sep 2021 16:26:01 +0000

YouTube has updated its guidelines today surrounding vaccine misinformation. The firm has tried to strike a balance between pulling malicious content but keeping content that provokes debate. Read more...

YouTube has removed one million videos containing coronavirus misinformation

Usman Khan Lodhi — Wed, 25 Aug 2021 23:10:01 +0000

Statistics regarding YouTube's handling of misinformation were shared today. They revealed that YouTube had removed over one million videos containing COVID-19 misinformation since February 2020. Read more...

Twitter is now allowing users to report elections and COVID-19 misinformation

Usama Jawad — Wed, 18 Aug 2021 05:54:02 +0000

Twitter is experimenting with allowing some users to report tweets containing misleading information, with a special focus on misinformation related to COVID-19, vaccines, and elections. Read more...

Facebook now asks you to read an article before sharing it

Jay Bonggolto — Mon, 10 May 2021 23:42:01 +0000

Facebook unveiled today a new method of making sure users get to read a news article first before sharing it with their friends. The social media site is currently testing the new feature. Read more...

Twitter starts labeling tweets with false claims about COVID-19 vaccine

Jay Bonggolto — Tue, 02 Mar 2021 05:50:01 +0000

Twitter is labeling misleading tweets about COVID-19 vaccine starting today and locking accounts that violate this policy using a new strike system that can lead to permanent account suspension. Read more...

Microsoft, Intel, BBC and others form coalition to combat misinformation

Usama Jawad — Mon, 22 Feb 2021 15:26:01 +0000

Numerous entities from the technology and media sector such as BBC, Intel, Microsoft, and Arm have joined forces to form the Coalition for Content Provenance and Authenticity (C2PA). Read more...

Facebook starts debunking myths about climate change in its information hub

Jay Bonggolto — Thu, 18 Feb 2021 13:18:01 +0000

Facebook's information center about climate change has added a new section that disproves common climate myths. The information hub is also rolling out to additional countries starting today. Read more...

TikTok is rolling out a new feature to limit the spread of misleading videos

Jay Bonggolto — Wed, 03 Feb 2021 20:16:02 +0000

TikTok will soon display a banner on potentially misleading videos to inform users that what they're seeing contains unverified content. The new feature is live in the U.S. and Canada from today. Read more...

Facebook will now show 'authoritative' sources for searches relating to Holocaust

Jay Bonggolto — Wed, 27 Jan 2021 13:14:01 +0000

Facebook will now remind you to connect to "authoritative information" when you search about the Holocaust or Holocaust denial. The new feature will bring you to a website dedicated to the Holocaust. Read more...

Twitter unveils Birdwatch to tackle misinformation with community notes

Jay Bonggolto — Mon, 25 Jan 2021 19:46:44 +0000

Twitter aims to address misinformation on the platform with a new community-based approach called Birdwatch, where contributors can write notes about tweets they believe are misleading. Read more...

Google announces $3 million fund to combat misinformation around COVID-19 vaccine

Jay Bonggolto — Tue, 12 Jan 2021 20:16:01 +0000

Google has launched a new fund that will provide up to $3 million for journalistic projects across the globe that aim to broaden the audience of fact-checked information about COVID-19 vaccines. Read more...

Twitter will force users to remove posts with COVID-19 vaccine misinformation

Abhay V — Wed, 16 Dec 2020 22:18:01 +0000

Twitter today announced that it is expanding its policies to enforce the removal of posts with misinformation about COIVD-19 vaccines. It will also begin labeling false tweets starting next year. Read more...

UK to introduce laws to improve safety on social media

Paul Hill — Tue, 15 Dec 2020 14:28:01 +0000

The UK government is looking to introduce new laws that will apply to social media platforms. The laws will seek to crackdown on terrorist and child sexual abuse material as well as misinformation. Read more...

YouTube plans to curb content promoting harmful conspiracy theories

Usama Jawad — Fri, 16 Oct 2020 03:50:01 +0000

After announcing that it would be removing videos containing misinformation about COVID-19 vaccines, YouTube has now stated that it will be removing all content promoting harmful conspiracy theories. Read more...

YouTube will remove videos containing misinformation around COVID-19 vaccines

Jay Bonggolto — Wed, 14 Oct 2020 23:08:01 +0000

YouTube will stamp out videos on the platform that contain false information about COVID-19 vaccines, including those that contradict authoritative information from the World Health Organization. Read more...

Facebook is clamping down on groups tied to violence and health misinformation

Jay Bonggolto — Thu, 17 Sep 2020 17:54:01 +0000

Facebook is limiting the reach of groups tied to violence and health advice by removing them from recommendations, among other restrictions. Groups with no admin for some time will also be archived. Read more...

Twitter updates guidelines against disinformation ahead of U.S. election

Usman Khan Lodhi — Thu, 10 Sep 2020 21:18:01 +0000

Twitter stated on Thursday that it would label or remove tweets spreading disinformation aimed at undermining confidence in the U.S. election. The new policy will take effect on September 17. Read more...

Facebook announces measures to protect the U.S. elections

Paul Hill — Thu, 03 Sep 2020 22:46:01 +0000

Facebook has outlined the measures it will take during the U.S. presidential election to ensure that misinformation cannot spread rapidly. With these measures, it hopes to make the election fairer. Read more...