Facebook says it will punish individual accounts caught spreading misinformation

Facebook on Wednesday announced that it would begin targeting individual accounts that have been caught spreading fake news or misinformation on the platform. The company says it will “reduce distribution” of all posts from any user that regularly shares false information on the service.

The company explained in a blog post that it would notify users that were caught spreading misinformation, informing them that continuing to do so would result in their posts (including future ones) would be pushed down the News Feed, making them less likely to be spotted by more users. There is no clarity at this point as to how many infractions would cause an account to be penalised, or the process to appeal in case of an incorrect decision.