Document details

Report on the Facebook Third-Party Fact-Checking Programme

London: Full Fact (2020), 33 pp.

CC BY-SA

"Full Fact first started working with Facebook on the Third-Party Fact-Checking programme in January 2019. When we joined the programme we committed to reporting regularly on its operation. Our first report, published in July 2019, covered January to June 2019.1 This second report details our experience from July 2019 to December 2020 [...] Broadly, our views are that: This is a valuable programme. It made a significant difference to our ability to tackle misinformation during the 2019 UK election, and to Facebook’s ability to respond. Facebook’s global network of fact checking partners meant it had options for responding to misinformation related to the pandemic that other internet companies did not have. Other internet companies should emulate the Third-Party Fact-Checking programme. In particular, from what we can tell, YouTube stands out as particularly being able to benefit from a similar programme to the Third-Party Fact-Checking programme. A partnership such as the Third-Party Fact-Checking programme can only be one part of an effective response to misinformation and disinformation. Other decisions the internet companies make are critical and need scrutiny and oversight: from product design, to advertising standards, to rules for user behaviour. Our two main concerns continue to be transparency and scale. Explaining the programme and its results is Facebook’s responsibility. These independent reports from Full Fact seek to add to the information Facebook provides, not act as a substitute. Most internet companies are trying to use AI to scale fact checking and none is doing so in a transparent way with independent assessment. This is a growing concern." (Introduction, page 5-6)
Introduction, 5
Progress on the 2019 recommendations, 9
Other changes since July 2019, 14
Observations from Full Fact’s work since July 2019, 24
Recommendations, 31
Provide fact checkers with greater information -- Provide publishers with more information -- Use the Third-Party Fact-Checking database -- Transparency and accountability