Facebook, Google step up fight against fake news
Facebook announced Monday it's clamping down on the spread of misinformation by blocking websites that publish fake news stories from using its advertising services to bring in revenue. The social media site's updated policy explicitly includes fake news sites, and makes it clear it will "not display ads in sites that show misleading or illegal content, to include fake news sites," The New York Times reported. "Our team will continue to closely vet all prospective publishers and monitor existing ones to ensure compliance," a Facebook spokesperson said in a statement.
Facebook's announcement followed a similar move by Google, which announced Monday afternoon that it would block websites that published fake news from using its online advertising service.
Both Facebook and Google faced backlash after the presidential election, with critics wondering how much the spread of misinformation may have influenced the election outcome.