The Silicon Review ^Asia

In order to tackle fake news and improve the quality of information on social media, popular networking sites Facebook Inc and Twitter Inc have joined a network of over 30 news and technology companies. Formed in June 2015, the First Draft Coalition with the backing of Alphabet Inc’s Google said it would create a voluntary code of practice, promote news literacy among social media users, and launch a platform where members can verify questionable news stories.

Jenni Sargent, managing director of the coalition, in an email said, the platform will be launched by the end of October and the members of the group include the New York Times, Washington Post, BuzzFeed News, Agence France-Presse and CNN. Facebook, the world’s largest social media network with about 1.7 billion users each month, has been criticized for its role in spreading fake stories and misinformation. Twitter, with about 140 million daily users, plays a crucial role in breaking news and disseminating eyewitness content.

Facebook augmented the use of automation in the month of August to opt for the most-talked about topics of the day for its popular “Trending” feature, as a way to reduce human unfairness. And in July, Twitter quickly aloof posts from Islamic radicals glorifying a truck attack in Nice, France, winning a rare surrounding of admire from watchdog groups for a platform that has often struggled to contain violent propaganda.