Facebook introduces fact checking in more local Indian languages, provides additional funding to partners

Facebook has introduced fact-checking in more Indian languages and increased the number of posts fact checkers can review in India by 25%, people aware of the development said, as the social media giant clamps down on spread of misinformation amid general elections in the country.

“The newest languages are Urdu and Punjabi. Before that it was Tamil and Gujarati. So Facebook now has 10 languages in which fact-checking happens in India,” one of the persons cited earlier told ET. “Several fact checkers pointed out that there is stuff that surfaces just before polling happens and different types of content that peak after polling happens. Debunked information often gets republished with a fresh narrative, claiming to be from this or that campaign.”