Snapchat "fake news" restrictions issued on Monday directly target deceitful clickbait and posts with links to questionable websites. The crackdown came along with an updated design and other changes.
The new guidelines "more explicitly" restrict publishers from posting content on its Discover news service with no news or editorial value, reported The New York Times. The new rules state that publishers' content must be fact-checked and accurate.
Snapchat also clarified rules intended to stop publishers from including reports or links to outside websites that could be fake news.
Snapchat spokeswoman Rachel Racusen told the Times they hope the changes would "empower our editorial partners to do their part to keep Snapchat an informative, factual, and safe environment for everyone."
Engadget reported on the updated design.
"You'll see an overall visual upgrade and a greater emphasis on Bitmoji avatars," said Engadget's Jon Fingas. "The software improvements will definitely be the most noticeable thing you'll see today, but don't be surprised if the Discover guidelines make a greater impact in the long run."
Fake news websites number in the hundreds and have been difficult for some readers to distinguish them from actual news-gathering websites, said the BBC News, noting that those sites, many of which became prominent during the last presidential election, run from satire to misinformation to serve a political end.
Their content is aimed at generating online advertising revenue at the expense of quality or accuracy. They rely on sensational headlines and provocative images to get click-throughs and encourage forwarding the material to others via social media.
"In this environment, every technology company that touches media is concerned about being vulnerable to connections to fake news and disinformation," Joshua Benton, director of the Nieman Journalism Lab at Harvard University told the Times.
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