Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg reportedly approved a new internal effort to defend the reputation of the social network's News Feeds last month, a huge change policy amid criticism of the spread of misinformation by social media.
The New York Times on Tuesday that Zuckerberg signed on to Project Amplify in August. The new project includes suggestions for highlighting positive stories from Facebook in users' News Feeds, the site's most popular section, including posts written by Facebook itself. The idea of Project Amplify reportedly shocked some of its senior executives companys.
Project Amplify has since been tested in three cities of USA, the Times reports. Company spokesman Joe Osborne told the newspaper that the positive posts did not make any dramatic changes to how posts are ranked in Facebook's News Feed.
But this project is a departure from Facebook's previous efforts with a simple apology for issues related to misinformation and hate speech. Zuckerberg himself was forced to apologize several times for the campaigns of Russian influence that multiplied on the site during the 2016 elections and pledged to increase transparency.
The company has faced a lot of criticism, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic, which may have prompted some executives to start Project Amplify.
The Times publication cites a series of reports by The Wall Street Journal released last week based on internal documents that claim Facebook downplayed the negative effects of Instagram on young girls and failed to crack down even after seeing misinformation about the COVID-19 vaccine spread on its platform.
