Instagram to Begin Adding 'False Information' Label Over Fake News

If you’ve been seeing a growing number of fake posts floating down your Instagram feed, worry not — Facebook wants to put it a stop to it.

The social media giant announced Monday that its users will begin to see labels that read “false information” on posts deemed false by fact-checkers. Facebook users and Instagrammers will start to see the labels next month; they’ll still be able to see the debunked post but only after tapping past the “false information” label.

"In addition to clearer labels, we’re also working to take faster action to prevent misinformation from going viral, especially given that quality reporting and fact-checking takes time," Facebook wrote in a press release. "In many countries, including in the US, if we have signals that a piece of content is false, we temporarily reduce its distribution pending review by a third-party fact-checkers."

Instagram chief Adam Mosseri took to Twitter ahead of the announcement to explain why it took so long for the photo-based app to catch up to Facebook’s efforts to combat fake news. He said they’re “still playing catch up.”

“On Facebook, we started by focusing on links and articles because that's where we saw the most issues, and have since expanded to images and video,” Mosseri explained. “Most of the work to reduce [misinformation] on Instagram is done by that same team.”

Facebook is also putting funds into supporting programs that promote media literacy, announcing an investment of $2 million to support organizations and programs that help people understand what they’re sharing online.