How to report Fake News on Facebook and Twitter

More and more often we find on social news, images with captions and videos that report a “tarot” news also called fake news, with the aim of attracting users who are not attentive or eager to share information piloted to reveal an opinion despite the news not having no basis (political fake news often get this kind of effect).
If we find completely false shares or news on our home, it is not enough to scroll and let it be forgotten but we can actively intervene by reporting the fake news to Facebook, which will (after numerous reports and a thorough investigation) permanently block the content.
Let’s see in this guide how to report Fake News on Facebook and Twitterthe two social networks most targeted by this form of misleading information.

READ ALSO -> Fake News: how to recognize them and avoid fake news

1) How to report fake news on Facebook

Facebook is the site with the largest number of fake news in circulation, since it is very simple to create (or run them) using channels, groups and sharing with many contacts (strategy of “sharing without even reading” typical of those who do not know use information tools well).
As soon as we stumble upon a fake news in our Facebook stream we click on the top right of the post (on the three dots) and then click on the item Provide feedback on this post.

A new window will open where we can choose a series of items regarding the reports; for fake news we select the item False news and click on below Send.

The post will be correctly reported and will be managed by the dedicated Facebook service. Fake news does not necessarily disappear immediately, but if a post receives many reports of this type, we will help make it disappear permanently from the blue social network.

If we use the Facebook mobile app a lot (smartphones and tablets), we can also report fake news from here.
First of all, download the updated Facebook app using the links here -> Facebook (Android) e Facebook (iOS).
Once inside the app we identify the news that we consider fake news, tap on the three dots at the top right of the post and then on the item Provide feedback on this post.

A page similar to the Web version will open where we can select the False news item, so as to leave a trace in the Facebook reporting system and help the social network to remain free from the now rampant fake news.

2) How to report fake news on Twitter

Fortunately, Twitter is less subject to fake news, since it is a little more “serious” social network and also considering that most of the users who help spread false news only know Facebook as social; however they are also present on Twitter, so better know how to intervene.
If we use Twitter and we see fake news appear in our stream, we can quickly report them by clicking on the small arrowhead pointing downwards at the top right of the tweet, and using the voice Report Tweet.

A new window will open where we can choose what type of report to send; for fake news we recommend using the voice Spam.

We click Next to confirm the report. The Twitter control system is much more effective than Facebook, and very soon the fake news will be deleted or will end without hashtags, so as to no longer be directly visible by all users.

As with Facebook, we can also report tweets that we believe to be fake news with the mobile version of Twitter.
We download the updated Twitter app for Android and iOS devices using the links here -> Twitter (Android) e Twitter (iOS).
Once downloaded and logged in with our account we identify the tweet which in our opinion contains a fake news, we tap on the down arrowhead present at the top right and finally select the item Report Tweet.

We indicate as previously seen the Spam nature of the post, so as to help Twitter to keep the social network clean of false news (the control system seems to be much more effective, just a few reports are enough to see a real fake news disappear).

3) How to prevent other fake news from appearing on social networks

Reporting fake news is only the first step: if we see a page that only distributes fake news (maybe it does it for money or to get an opinion advantage), we must absolutely block it to prevent other fake news from appearing on our social networks. ; let’s see how to block pages that distribute this type of inappropriate content.

Once the reporting on Facebook is finished, the system will offer a series of solutions if the page from which the fake news started was among our favorites or appears often among our posts.

We will be able to choose whether to block the page (we will never see any of its contents again and we will no longer be able to access it), whether to stop following the page (we will keep the Like but we will no longer see news appear on our stream) or we can remove the Like from the page if we had added it in the past.
The most drastic but effective solution is definitely the button Blockbut we can choose how to behave based on the situation (in some cases reporting fake news should be enough).
If the site insists on showing fake news, it’s best to block it.

If the user or page that sends fake news from Twitter continues to bother us, we can always silence or block it by clicking on the arrowhead of a suspicious post again and using the keys Silence O Block.

Silence will prevent you from viewing further posts on the page (without blocking access), while Block will block any type of access or view, thus leaving your stream finally free from fake news spread by that user or page.