Facebook begins labeling posts from state-controlled media

Facebook announced Thursday that it has started labelling posts from state-controlled media outlets.

The labels will first appear on the outlets’s page before being added to posts on the News Feed over the next week.

Advertisements from the outlets will also start being labeled later this summer.

The social media giant first announced plans for such labels in October 2019.

“We’re providing greater transparency into these publishers because they combine the influence of a media organization with the strategic backing of a state, and we believe people should know if the news they read is coming from a publication that may be under the influence of a government,” Facebook’s head of cybersecurity, Nathan Gleicher, wrote in a blog post Thursday.

Facebook’s definition of state-controlled media was developed in collaboration with experts and organizations in the fields of media, governance, human rights and development.

The company says it will make the determinations based on the funding and structure of media companies, as well as open-source reporting about them.

Outlets determined to be state-controlled will be able to appeal their status.