Facebook, the tech giant and magnet for controversy, has recently been outspoken about its efforts to combat fake news. After complaints that it was not doing enough, Facebook has implemented new policies that appear to be working. But one previous feature seems to have a glaring loophole. Nearly two years ago Facebook removed the ability of its users to edit the previews to links that they shared. This essentially means that when someone shared a link, they were able to edit the title and image, which could promote false information, if a user saw it on their timeline and didn’t actually click the url to the real article. It now appears that if a link is shared from another Facebook page, then it can still be edited.
This appears to be a strange loophole that Facebook did not foresee, but will most likely fix this in the near future. Facebook has had several scandals involving fake news over the past few years, but has been taking more action as of late. For example, the site recently shut down several Iran-based accounts that were attempting to create foreign interference; posting in groups, sharing propaganda, and persuade potential voters.
This problem is nothing new though, the site is constantly purging accounts created by Iranians or Russians spreading fake news. This can be tough to control, as anybody can create an account and share whatever they like, so it would appear that Facebook may continue having trouble with these accounts in the future.
Sources:
https://mashable.com/article/facebook-loophole-fake-news-link-preview/
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