Facebook adds AFP and Fact Watch to fact-checking program in Bangladesh

Facebook announced the expansion of its third-party fact-checking program with the addition of international partner AFP, as well as Bangladesh-based organization Fact Watch, as part of its ongoing efforts to reduce the spread of misinformation in Bangladesh. AFP and Fact Watch join Boom, which has partnered with Facebook since 2020 when the program was first introduced to Bangladesh.

AFP and Fact Watch, which have been certified by the Poynter Institute's non-partisan International Fact Checking Network (IFCN), will review and rate the accuracy of Bangla and English stories on Facebook, including photos and videos in Bangladesh.

When third-party fact-checkers rate a story as false, altered or partly false, it will appear lower in News Feed, significantly reducing its distribution on Facebook. Instagram will also make it harder to find by filtering from Explore and hashtag pages and downranking it in Feed. Pages and domains that repeatedly share false news will also see their distribution reduced and their ability to monetize and advertise removed.

In addition, content across Facebook and Instagram that has been rated false or altered is prominently labelled so people can better decide for themselves what to read, trust, and share. These labels are shown on top of false and altered photos and videos, including on top of Stories content on Instagram and link out to the assessment from the fact-checker.

Facebook's fact-checking program started in December 2016. Today, the social media platform has over 80 partners fact-checking content in over 60 languages.