BRASILIA, May 10 (Xinhua) -- Facebook announced on Thursday it is launching a news fact-checking service in Brazil, ahead of the general elections in October, in association with the fact-checking agencies Lupa and A los Hechos.
According to Facebook, the agencies will be able to access the news which have been flagged as fake by users.
If the report is confirmed, these news items will see reduced distribution or even be blocked altogether.
Facebook will also send notifications to the administrators and users of pages which share fake news. Pages that repeatedly share fake news will have their audience reach diminished.
"This association with A los Hechos and the Lupa agency is another step in our efforts to fight misinformation and improve the quality of news people find on Facebook," said Claudia Gurfinkel, leader of alliances with media for Facebook in Latin America, in a statement.
Facebook said that after the launching of a similar initiative in the U.S., the organic distribution of fake news fell by 80 percent.
Furthermore, countries like Italy and the Philippines have already seen similar alliances with partners.
Last month, amid a scandal due to private user information being disseminated to help design political campaign strategies, Facebook creator Mark Zuckerberg promised to redouble his efforts to stop illicit use of the platform in elections, including Brazil.
