WeChat is schooling Facebook on dealing with fake news

With more than 800 million users on its platform, WeChat is a sizable digital empire, reports Tech in Asia

The impact of fake news is getting harder and harder to dismiss. Just this Sunday, an armed man fired shots inside a pizzeria because of a fake news article that accused Hillary Clinton and her top campaign aide of running a child sex ring out of said restaurant. As social media plays a larger role in distributing news, how tech companies handle rumours and falsehood is crucial.

Tencent, the Chinese tech giant behind social messaging app WeChat, has taken a multi-pronged approach. Given Mark Zuckerberg’s interest in the Chinese market, Facebook could learn a few things from its Chinese counterpart – especially as its future potential competitor.

Rumor digests

With more than 800 million users on its platform, WeChat is a sizable digital empire. Governing it isn’t easy.

According to a 2015 study by the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (CASS), WeChat blocks “rumours” as many as 2.1 million times a day. It’s hard to say what exactly counts as “rumour” in WeChat, as the app’s content regulations are coupled with China’s internet censorship policies. However, it’s fair to assume that in addition to politically sensitive content, Tencent has a range of undesirable content to block, from scams to fake news.

In 2014, the Chinese tech giant launched an official WeChat account called ‘Rumor Filter’ to help users distinguish fact from fiction. The account regularly publishes a digest of widely circulated fake news with explanations on why claims are false. For example, there was a rumour on WeChat that Trump was born in the Sichuan province of China. Another fake post asserted that washing your head first when showering would cause cerebral haemorrhaging.

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This is an excerpt from Tech in Asia. You can read the full article here