UNITED NATIONS: Twenty countries, including France, Britain and India, signed an agreement at the UN that aims to stop the spread of fake news online.
The signatories, which also included South Africa and Canada, committed to promoting “independently reported, diverse and reliable” information on the Internet, under an accord initiated by Reporters Without Borders (RSF).
“The emergence of a global digital space is shaking up the world of information, bringing with it progress as well as risks,” said French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian.
He added on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in New York that misinformation online, especially during election campaigns, “undermined trust in democratic institutions.”
The agreement underlines the responsibility of Internet providers to promote trustworthy content and pluralism to escape the current “information chaos”.
Meanwhile, the Facebook has started hiding the number of “likes” for posts in Australia on Friday in a trial that could be rolled out worldwide.
Users will be blocked from viewing the number of likes, reactions and video views on other people’s posts.
“It really is just taking that number out of the equation, so that people can focus on the quality of their interactions and the quality of the content rather than on the number of likes or reactions,” Mia Garlick, policy director of Facebook Australia, said. — AFP
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