Finally Facebook takes the field in a concrete way against the fake news related to the coronavirus. The most used social network in the Western world has in fact launched a pilot project, starting right from Italy which in recent weeks has been the epicenter of the spread of Covid-19: it's called Facta and it's basically a support number on Whatsapp (which we must remember is always part of Facebook) that everyone can contact at any time for clarification on this or that suspicious information.
The number is 345-6022504 and you can both write text messages and send audio, or video, or even images. After submitting your application, a team of fact checkers (they're from Political report card, the most important Italian site dedicated to fact checking, especially in the political world) will respond by sending a link for data processing: it is in fact possible that cookies are used that track personal data and for this the user's consent is expressly requested, who will therefore have to answer "I agree" by writing it directly on the chat.
On the Facta website it is also possible to report hoaxes: in that case, in addition to the name and surname, the user is also asked for the email address. Scoreboard Politics, online since October 2012, is one of the sites considered to be the most reliable internationally, so much so that in September 2019 it obtained the badge of the International fact checking network, which evaluates the criteria of correctness and transparency. With this operation, Facebook is launching a sign of active participation against the phenomenon right in Italy, a country where fake news is unfortunately being wasted.
Furthermore, Facta is the first project that involves the private world, given that so far the social network founded by Mark Zuckerberg had limited itself to agreements with governments or international organizations, making institutional WhatsApp channels available, who however only respond via chatbot in FAQ mode.
