Facebook launches anti-fake news campaign in Netherlands

This week Facebook is launching an advertisement campaign in the Netherlands aimed at teaching Dutch Facebook users how to recognize fake news. Ads with tips on how to do so will appear on the social media platform itself. Facebook aims to reach "as good as all Dutch people who have Facebook" this week, NOS reports.

The campaign is based on a series of tips that can also be found elsewhere on Facebook. It includes tips like be skeptical about headlines, take a good look at the web address, and check the source.

A Facebook spokesperson told NOS that there is no specific reason why the social media platform is launching this anti-fake news campaign now. These advertisements have already been shown in other countries.

Facebook has already taken a number of measures to counter the spreading of fake news on the site. One such is hiring fact checkers to check the authenticity of news articles spread on the platform. In the Netherlands this is done by Leiden University and NU.nl.