On June 4, the social media site Facebook announced that they will start labeling pages, posts, and advertisements from media outlets that are controlled by a state.
Labeling media outlets
The labels will start showing on pages that belong to media outlets like Russia Today and Xinhua from China. In mid-June, readers from the United States will start to see the label on the posts of the state-controlled media outlets.
The readers from other countries will also start seeing the labels. Facebook's head of security policy, Nathaniel Gleicher, stated in an interview on June 2, that the company is taking such measures so that online users will know more about where the news is coming from.
Gleicher said that Facebook is concerned that the state media may spread an agenda to the readers. He also added that if a user is reading coverage of a protest, it is important that they also know who the writer is and what the motivation is.
Facebook wants to label pages so that the readers can know and understand who is behind the pages and posts.
In December 2019, Facebook first announced its plans for the labels, but its delay came after media outlets from countries such as Russia and China have been posting articles about the coronavirus pandemic and about the killing of George Floyd.
The media outlets, especially those from China, have written about the recent Black Lives Matter protest and have questioned why American officials are praising the protesters who are fighting for the independence of Hong Kong but they are criticizing the protesters in America who are fighting for the end of racism.
Later this year, Facebook will start blocking the media outlets that are state-controlled from running advertisements, it is a precautionary measure that the company will take before the general elections in the United States this November.
Gleicher states that the ban is only applicable in the United States for now, and there is no plan to apply the strategy in other countries yet. Gleicher said that the company consulted with 65 experts so that they can create their own criteria to define which outlets to label as state-controlled media.
The criteria will include where the funding of the outlet comes from, the ownership structure and governance, editorial transparency, internal accountability mechanisms, and third party confirmation of independence.
An entity can be funded by a state, but can still be independent. Even though an initial list of outlets including Xinhua and CCTV, Sputnik and Russia Today will get the label as soon as possible.Gleicher stated that the list is dynamic and it will change in the next couple of months.
How other social media companies handled the labeling
In 2018, social media platform YouTube began labeling the videos that came from media outlets that are funded by a state. This decision has led some media outlets to criticize Facebook and stated that they are equipped with a legislative firewall that can help prevent interference in reporting.
As for another social media platform, Twitter, the company does not label media outlets that are state-controlled, but in August 2019 the company stopped accepting advertising from new media entities that are state-controlled.
A spokesperson for Russia Today disapproves of the move and said that it is an example of fake news. The spokesperson for China's Foreign Ministry, Geng Shuang, called on social media companies to give up ideological prejudice. He stated that all media outlets should be treated equally as long as they abide by laws and regulations.
