Minister of Information Policy of Ukraine Yurii Stets appealed to Facebook on Jan. 26 to develop a verification mechanism to filter out fake news.
“In connection with Russia’s aggression against Ukraine, we are concerned about the threats facing freedom of speech and democracy in the form of the dissemination of false and unconfirmed news about the occupation of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea by the Russian Federation and the conduct of the anti-terrorist operation in the east of Ukraine,” the minister wrote in a letter to Facebook.
Facebook faced criticism for allowing hoaxes and fake news to circulate on the social network – material that some have said influenced the U.S. presidential election in November 2016.
“We’ve focused our efforts on the worst of the worst, on the clear hoaxes spread by spammers for their own gain, and on engaging both our community and third party organizations,” Facebook stated in the company’s blog on Dec. 15.
Facebook later announced on Jan. 15 that Germany would be the first country where updates addressing the challenge of fake news would be introduced. Germany holds parliamentary elections in September 2017.
The news about the introduction of the anti-fakery mechanisms in Germany was hailed by the Ministry of Information Policy of Ukraine, with its minister calling for similar measures to be put in place for Ukraine.
“The Ukrainian people, in turn, have the right to receive accurate and truthful information on Facebook,” Stets said in his letter to the social network.
According to Facebook business tools, around 3 million Ukrainians use Facebook on a daily basis.
The Ministry of Information Policy of Ukraine also promised to cooperate with Facebook in tackling the problem of fake news.
Kyiv Post social media editor Iryna Savchuk can be reached at [email protected].
