Instagram announced in December that it was rolling out a false information warning feature that used third-party fact-checkers to reduce the spread of misinformation. But the feature is now labeling some digitally manipulated art as false information and hiding photos from digital artists and photographers from the Explore and hashtag pages.
The false information warning is an extra step for people to have to tap through to see the post, and Instagram explained in its blog post that the platform will make “content from accounts that repeatedly receive these labels harder to find by removing it from Explore and hashtag pages.” Artists can’t control when their work will go viral or what kinds of misinformation others will attach to that work. There’s a chance that an artist’s account could be labeled as one that frequently spreads false information, even if it’s not their intention, which could affect their visibility on the platform.
“SO PEOPLE CAN BETTER DECIDE FOR THEMSELVES WHAT TO READ, TRUST, AND SHARE”
Facebook and Instagram have faced their share of criticism ar now ound choosing to leave up posts with fake information. Last May, Facebook declined to delete a distorted video of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), opting to add a disclaimer for users saying the video had been faked. The company applied the same policy in June when it decided to leave up a deepfake video of Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg on Instagram.
“We will treat this content the same way we treat all misinformation on Instagram,” a spokesperson told The Verge. “If third-party fact-checkers mark it as false, we will filter it from Instagram’s recommendation surfaces like Explore and hashtag pages.” Facebook has been embroiled in controversy for the last few months regarding its revised political ad policy, which now says it will not subject posts from politicians to fact-checking.
The Verge has reached out to Instagram for comment and will update when we hear bacplease like , comment & share our videos and also subscribe to the channel to get the notification of our next video
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