Facebook to let users rank what news sources are trustworthy

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Two billion users will see major changes as part of what the social network has planned to address growing controversy over the role it plays in people's lives and in society. Time

SAN FRANCISCO — What makes legitimate news on Facebook? The world's largest social network plans to regularly poll users to find out. 

In a post on his Facebook page, CEO Mark Zuckerberg said the result of changes announced last week to its News Feed will reduce the amount of news users to see to 4% from 5%, a move designed to increase the quality of interactions they have on the world's most popular social network, even if they spend less time there. 

The news they do see will go through a quality filter — in part influenced by users. Zuckerberg said the company will prioritize news from "trusted sources" and it will determine which outlets qualify by asking people in its ongoing surveys whether they're familiar with a news source, and if so, whether they trust that source. Users will see more news from sources the community thinks are trustworthy, he said.

"There's too much sensationalism, misinformation and polarization in the world today. Social media enables people to spread information faster than ever before, and if we don't specifically tackle these problems, then we end up amplifying them," wrote Zuckerberg.

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Facebook was sharply criticized in the aftermath of the 2016 presidential election for helping creators of faked news items quickly and cheaply expand their reach, confusing voters. Previous attempts to crack down on fabricated news, such as partnering with fact-checkers and using labels to highlight "disputed" news sources, stumbled.

Executives have regularly backed away from claims that, as one of the world's most influential information portals, Facebook acts as a media organization — with the responsibilities to separate fact from fiction that go along with that mantle. 

Instead, Zuckerberg has insisted that Facebook is a technology company, if a new breed of one, and has leaned on other avenues to cut down on misleading information.

"The hard question we've struggled with is how to decide what news sources are broadly trusted in a world with so much division. We could try to make that decision ourselves, but that's not something we're comfortable with. We considered asking outside experts, which would take the decision out of our hands but would likely not solve the objectivity problem," wrote Zuckerberg. "Or we could ask you -- the community -- and have your feedback determine the ranking."