Facebook has denied claims it instructed its fact-checking unit to prioritise the debunking of false content impacting advertisers.
The social media giant's statement comes in response to a report in The Guardian that quoted former Facebook fact-checkers who claimed it ignored their concerns.
In the report, Brooke Binkowski, the former managing editor of fact-checking site Snopes that partnered with Facebook for two years, accused the platform of using them for "crisis PR" rather than combating the issue of false news.
Binkowski, who left Snopes in July, claimed Facebook was more focused on fixing its image than making real changes to its platform to protect users.
However, Facebook rubbished the claims in a statement on its blog, saying its fact-checking program is 'highly-effective'.
“We absolutely do not ask fact-checkers to prioritise debunking content about our advertisers,” Facebook said.
“The primary way we surface potentially false news to third-party fact-checkers is via machine learning.”
Facebook said the journalists are then able to go through a list of flagged content and choose for themselves what to fact-check.
“They are under no obligation to fact-check anything from the list, and if they'd like, they can rate stories that Facebook hasn't added to the list, which they often do.”
Facebook claims the program helped reduce the spread of misinformation by up to 80% and it will continue to expand the program to other countries in 2019.
The unit, which is now in 24 countries, was launched following the 2016 US elections after Facebook was heavily criticised for not doing enough to fight Russian hackers and false news.
Facebook is currently part of an ACCC investigation looking into the power of tech giants and the impact they have on Australian news and advertising.
The ACCC recently released 11 preliminary recommendations and nine areas for further analysis, including establishing a body to oversee the digital platforms.
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