This election, the work of fact-checking organizations is being amplified by a new partner: Facebook. It is part of the social media giant’s push to assure users it is taking misinformation campaigns in elections seriously. In September, Facebook announced it was dedicating its own “War Room” in Menlo Park to preventing election interference in Brazil — one of its five biggest markets.
Even with plenty of advance warnings, new hiring and partnerships, the social networks are failing to thwart more advanced techniques — boding poorly for attempts to keep deliberate misinformation at bay in coming elections around the world.