Facebook is looking to hire news publisher specialists as part of its efforts to have employees gauge the credibility of a news organization and the stories it publishes. Facebook’s new job listings are open for two applicants, one of whom must be fluent in the Spanish language and the other in English. The contractors will be based in Facebook’s Menlo Park, California headquarters, according to the job listings. The news publisher specialists will be tasked to come up with a roster of news organizations with a high level of credibility. While there’s no official confirmation from Facebook on what it plans to do with the list, it’s understood that it will be applied to the company’s future products such as new features on the site.
The move is seen as part of the social networking giant’s efforts to curb the spread of fake news on its platform. In April last year, Facebook was reportedly hiring individuals with sufficient skills and knowledge in both tech and media to lead its news products division. Misleading news and information began to plague the social media platform since the 2016 U.S. presidential elections. Most recently, the Menlo Park, California-based company was reportedly planning to unveil its own news service, with Facebook inviting hosts from at least three large news organizations for its new program. Campbell Brown, Facebook’s head of global news partnerships, said the shows are expected to air on a video service called Watch and to begin airing on the site within just a few months. The company is said to be pulling in CNN’s Anderson Cooper, Univision’s Jorge Ramos, and Fox News’ Shepard Smith for the program.
Facebook’s recruitment effort is just one of several steps the company has been taking to combat the proliferation of deceptive content on its platform. Last April, the social media titan announced a range of new features that would give more context about articles shared on the social media platform. The tech company claims that it factored in the feedback and input of publishers and participants of the Facebook Journalism Project in developing the new features, including the most recent “More From This Publisher,” which shows a list of recent stories previously released by the article’s publisher.