About fact-checking on Facebook

We're committed to fighting the spread of misinformation on Facebook and Instagram. In many countries and regions, we work with independent, third-party fact-checking organisations who are certified through the non-partisan International Fact-Checking Network (IFCN) to identify, review and take action on this content. Read more about our fact-checking partnerships and learn about the elements of our programme in the following articles:

• Rating options for fact-checkers
• Programme Policies
• Facebook's enforcement of fact-checker ratings
• Issue a correction or dispute a rating

The focus of this fact-checking programme is to identify and address viral misinformation, particularly, clear hoaxes that have no basis in fact. Fact-checking partners prioritise provably false claims that are timely, trending and consequential.

Fact-checking partners should not rate content with claims that are inconsequential or contain minor inaccuracies. Additionally, the programme isn't meant to interfere with individual expression, opinions and debate, clearly satirical or humorous content, or business disputes.

Our programme includes several key steps:

• Identify false news: We identify potential misinformation using signals, such as feedback from people on Facebook, and surface the content to fact-checkers. Fact-checkers may also identify content to review on their own.
• Review content: Fact-checkers will review content, check facts and rate the accuracy of the content. This happens independently from Facebook, and may include calling sources, consulting public data, authenticating videos and images, and more.
• Clearly label misinformation and inform users about it: We label content that's been reviewed by fact-checking partners, so that people can read additional context. We also notify people before they try to share this content and people who have shared it in the past.
• Make sure that fewer people see misinformation: After a fact-checker rates a piece of content as False, Altered or Partly False, it will appear lower in Feed, be filtered out of Explore on Instagram, and be featured less prominently in Feed and Stories. This significantly reduces the number of people who see it. We also reject ads with content that has been rated by fact-checkers.
• Take action against repeat offenders: Pages, groups, accounts and websites that repeatedly share misinformation will face some restrictions, including having their distribution reduced. This includes content rated False or Altered by fact-checking partners; content that is nearly identical to what fact-checkers have debunked as False or Altered; and content that we enforce against under our COVID-19 and vaccine misinformation policies. Repeat offenders may also have their ability to monetise and advertise removed, and their ability to register as a news Page removed for a given time period.