Facebook has partnered with a Mumbai-based fact checking organization called Boom as it tries to fight so-called fake news in India, its largest market.
The social network announced the fact-checking pilot program with Boom will help review news stories posted on social media, check facts and rate the stories for accuracy, according to the company's blogpost.
This is Facebook's first third-party fact-check program ahead of the May 12 Karnataka polls.
"We have learned that once a story is rated as false, we have been able to reduce its distribution by 80 percent, and thereby improve accuracy of information on Facebook and reduce misinformation," the blogpost read.
This is not the first time Facebook has partnered with third-party fact checkers – it has similar deals with fact checking groups in the U.S., France, Italy, the Netherlands, Indonesia, and the Philippines.
The company has been criticized for not doing enough to prevent users from sharing misleading news on its service, particularly in prelude to the 2016 U.S. presidential election.
But the launch in India is notable because Facebook, along with others, has been accused of not doing enough to prevent the influence of fake news in India, notes a report from BuzzFeed.
Last month, India's information technology minister warned against any social media abuse in a bid to thwart any attempt to influence next year's general election.
Facebook appreciated concerns raised by Ravi Shankar Prasad and said it would do everything possible to prevent any recurrence.
The California, U.S.-based firm's India initiative is aimed to inform people as to what might be false news in their news feed. Pages and domains which repeatedly share false news will see their distribution reduced and their ability to monetize and advertise removed.
"We also want to empower people to decide for themselves what to read, trust, and share by providing the community with more information and control," according to the blog post.
