Facebook, Google Take Small Steps To Stop Spread Of Fake News

Facebook and Google announced Monday that they were taking steps to restrict ads from fake news outlets after facing criticism that hoax stories helped swing the presidential election in favor of Donald Trump .

Facebook said Monday that it would ban fake news sites from using its Facebook Audience Network, which allows websites to generate revenue by including Facebook ads. Also Monday, Google said it would work to prevent websites selling fake news from using its AdSense advertising network.

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While both companies are taking a step in the right direction, the efforts wont completely fix the problem of fake news stories bubbling up on the two major websites. Facebooks move doesnt address the fake news that appears in users news feeds, the focus of criticism of the social network, the Wall Street Journal reported Tuesday. Its also not clear how the social network will identify whats fake and whats real.

These are both huge issues. During the election, Facebook hosted false news stories that included reports that actor Denzel Washington and Pope Francis had endorsed Trump. Both posts went viral on the social media website , according to NBC News.

On Sunday, a fake blog post suggesting that Trump had won the popular vote shot to the top of Googles search engine for those looking up final election results. In fact, Hillary Clintons popular vote lead has been growing.

I get all my news @70news .......... what a bunch of BS pic.twitter.com/4qn41Hc9Gf

Tobias Lemke (@LTobis) November 14, 2016","type":"rich","meta":{"author":"Tobias Lemke","author_url":"https://twitter.com/LTobis","cache_age":86400,"description":"I get all my news @70news .......... what a bunch of BS pic.twitter.com/4qn41Hc9Gf Tobias Lemke (@LTobis) November 14, 2016\n","provider_name":"Twitter","title":"Tobias Lemke on 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I get all my news @70news .......... what a bunch of BS pic.twitter.com/4qn41Hc9Gf
Tobias Lemke (@LTobis) November 14, 2016

Facebook users can still post and share fake news stories, meaning theres still an incentive for accounts to spread hoaxes in an effort to get clicks and drive revenue. Earlier this month, Buzzfeed reported on how Macedonian teens were churning out fake, pro-Donald Trump click-bait in an effort to make money.

The Wall Street Journal pointed out that a Facebook spokesman couldnt specify the signals its software uses to identify fake news sites, or when it will also ask people to review the sites. He also couldnt say why Facebook couldnt use similar technology to stamp out fake news on its news feed.

Facebook Chairman and CEO Mark Zuckerberg has insisted his company did not influence last weeks presidential election . Of all the content on Facebook, more than 99% of what people see is authentic, he wrote in a status update posted Saturday. The hoaxes that do exist are not limited to one partisan view, or even to politics. Overall, this makes it extremely unlikely hoaxes changed the outcome of this election in one direction or the other.