Facebook Wants To Control Foreign Media News Pages On Its Platform

JAKARTA - Amid the heating up situation in the United States (US), Facebook is taking a different step from other social media. Facebook is rumored to be starting to tag news content originating from foreign media such as Russia, China, North Korea and Iran on their platforms.

As quoted by The Verge, Facebook is trying to reduce its state-controlled foreign media channels. The aim is to curb news activities that have the potential to encourage false information.

Although there is no indication of fake news in their posts yet, many officials in the US are concerned that foreign media will interfere in the upcoming election process.

"They combine the influence of media organizations with the strategic support of a country, and we believe people should know if the news they read comes from publications that may be under government influence," wrote Cybersecurity Policy Chief Nathaniel Gleicher, on the Newsroom Facebook page, Friday. , June 5.

He explained that the labeling of the pages of 'foreign media' was based on various factors, ranging from information on ownership and funding, transparency around the sources of writing to the policy of correction and the media accountability system. Even so, the page can still operate independently, based on the policy of the press freedom law and the credible assessment of the foreign media.

Facebook itself has labeled several pages and posts from foreign media outlets that are considered, because it is considered spreading propaganda in the US. Some of them include Sputnik and RT which are foreign media from Russia.

By Facebook the two foreign media are now defined as state-controlled media, along with other outlets such as China Daily. Facebook isn't the first to do something like this; YouTube experimented with labeling state-funded news channels in 2018, although enforcement was inconsistent.

According to Facebook's Transparency Tool, the company will not give an exact date when it will begin banning the purchase of the ad, even though the media has purchased some ads targeting the US. It's just that Gleicher admitted, it is likely that this kind of reporting activity has the aim of destroying the upcoming 2020 US Presidential Election.

"People have to understand who is behind the arguments they see. So it's not just about funding. That's where the government can exercise editorial control over the entity," he said.

The plan is for Facebook to start labeling ads on foreign media pages in the coming months. The social media giant is also considering tagging news shared individually on a person's timeline.

On the other hand, Facebook is currently also struggling to deal with racial content that triggers protests in the US. Unfortunately, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg is still keeping silent about his reluctance not to label Trump's often controversial statements that spark protests.

Zuckerberg's policy of not verifying this fact made his employees go on strike and even threatened to leave Facebook. Not a few of them considered Zuckerberg to be a coward and defended Trump, who clearly made hate speech.