Meta joins forces with Press Trust of India (PTI) to reduce viral misinformation on platforms such as Facebook, WhatsApp, Instagram and Threads. As part of the partnership, PTI will serve as an independent fact-checker for the company and help identify, review and rate misinformation. Through this initiative, Meta has now partnered with 12 fact-checking organizations in India, covering content in 16 Indian languages. It is worth noting that this news was announced just days before the Indian general election.

Meta announced the partnership in an April 1 press release, saying: “Today, we are expanding our third-party fact-checking program in India to include the Press Trust of India (PTI), which A dedicated fact-checking unit within the newswire. Newsroom. This partnership will enable PTI to identify, review and rate content as misinformation on the Meta platform.”

With this partnership, Meta now has 12 fact-checking partners in India, including AFP-Hub, The Quint, NewsChecker, India Today Fact Check, Factly, and others. The social media giant said this makes India the country with the most third-party fact-checking partners on Meta globally. The company also has extensive coverage of regional language content, with partners covering 16 Indian languages ​​in addition to English, including Hindi, Bengali, Telugu, Kannada, Malayalam, etc.

Meta’s fact-checking program was launched in 2016 to address the problem of viral misinformation, particularly hoaxes that have no basis in fact. Third-party fact-checking partners keep a close eye on viral content like this and identify, rate, and review it. Whenever fact-checkers rate a piece of content as false, doctored, or partially false, the company claims to reduce its distribution so that fewer people see it. Additionally, it notifies users who attempt to share such content regarding fact checker ratings and adds a warning label linking to a partner article with more information on the topic.

The company emphasizes that it only works with institutions certified by the nonpartisan International Fact-Checking Network (IFCN). Meta currently has nearly 100 fact-checking partners around the world, reviewing and rating misinformation in more than 60 languages.

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