Researchers found that rebuttals written by fact-checkers were more effective in suppressing false stories NIALL CARSON / PAFacebook has stopped putting red flags next to fake news stories after the system encouraged people to trust what was written. For the past year the alerts have appeared alongside fabricated articles to highlight that they had been disputed by independent fact-checkers. In a blog post Facebook admitted that the red-flag approach did little to sway opinion and could even make stories appear more believable. Psychologists have warned of a “backfire effect” where, for example, far-right supporters who think that Facebook and its fact-checking partners have liberal biases, might view the flag as a mark of approval. Facebook said that in future, rather than flagging stories as fake, links to accurate alternatives would be displayed underneath contentious posts in the hope that they would nudge…

Source: The Times December 23, 2017 00:22 UTC