LONDON (ShareCast) - (ShareCast News) - Facebook began its push against the tide of fake news in earnest on Thursday, as the social media giant rolled out a third-party developed fact checking tool which would alert a user if shared content was 'disputed'.
The company had announced its intention to partner with independent fact-checking bodies, as it faced criticism for its part in the mass sharing of 'fake news' in the US election campaign.

Now, users attempting to share a story about the historic shipment of hundreds of thousands of Irish slaves to the US - a story that is entirely false - saw the tool in action this week.

The story was published by Rhode Island-based entertainment blog Newport Buzz and was apparently shared widely in the days leading up to St Patrick's Day on 17 March.

A certain number of users attempting to share the story were shown a red-coloured alert, which advised that the content of the article had been disputed by both the Associated Press and urban myth investigation website Snopes.

"Sometimes people share fake news without knowing it," the alert read when clicked on.

"When independent fact-checkers dispute this content, you may be able to visit their websites to find out why."

The alert added that only fact-checkers signed up to Poynter's non-partisan code of principles were shown.

A user still had the option to post the content anyway, but it would appear to others with the disputed content warning as well.

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