Facebook Expands its Third-Party Fact-Checking Programme To 10 Countries Across Sub-Saharan Africa


After launching its Third-Party Fact-Checking Programme in Kenya, Nigeria, South Africa, Cameroon, and Senegal, Facebook is expanding the program in more African countries.

For the uninitiated, Facebook’s Third-Party Fact-Checking Programme is the company’s weapon against curbing the spread of misinformation and helping assess the accuracy and quality of news consumed on the platform.

Once a story has been marked as false, Facebook then marks down the story by reducing its visibility on the News Feed, thus reducing the number of people who can see the story.

If a story is verified by third-party fact-checkers fact-check as true, the company will show the article under related articles right below the News Feed.

For Facebook users, you will be notified if a story you shared on the platform in the past was false. The same case applies to Facebook page admins.

Speaking of the expansion, Kojo Boakye, Facebook Head of Public Policy, Africa said, “The expansion of third-party fact-checking to now cover 15 countries in a little over a year shows firsthand our commitment and dedication to the continent, alongside our recent local language expansion as part of this programme.

“We know that third-party fact-checking alone is not the solution, it is one of many initiatives and programmes we are investing in to help to improve the quality of information people see on Facebook,” he added.

The company has partnered with a network of fact-checking organizations to oversee the launch of the program in 10 more additional countries.

Starting on 8th October, Facebook’s third-party fact-checking program is now available in Ethiopia, Zambia, Somalia and Burkina Faso (through AFP), Uganda and Tanzania (through both Pesa Check and AFP), Democratic Republic of Congo and Cote d’Ivoire (through the France 24 Observers and AFP), Guinea Conakry through the France 24 Observers, and Ghana through Dubawa.

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Alvin Wanjala

Alvin Wanjala has been writing about technology for over 2 years. He writes about different topics in the consumer tech space. He loves streaming music, programming, and gaming during downtimes.

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