Now, Facebook and Instagram will show account location information
In a bid to ensure transparency for its users, Facebook is bringing the ability to show the location of 'high-reach' pages and accounts. The feature would apply to both the company's main Facebook app and photo-sharing service Instagram and help the public establish for themselves where the post they are seeing is coming from. Here's all about it.
Location to be displayed on every post
As Facebook explained in a blog post, the new feature would display the location of pages and accounts on every post they choose to share. The change would give people "more information to help them gauge the reliability and authenticity of the content they see in their feeds," something that Facebook says is "particularly important" when it comes to elections.
However, it would only apply to 'high-reach' accounts
The company added in the post that the change would only apply to high-reach accounts and pages, which typically engage a large audience base, on Facebook and Instagram. However, the company has not given a metric for high-reach, which could help people define when their account or page would start showing their location through day-to-day posts, be it photos or general memes.
Goal to prepare for Presidential Elections
The move from Facebook comes as it gears up to prevent the spread of misleading posts related to the upcoming Presidential elections in the US. "These changes are part of our broader efforts to protect elections," the company said, noting that increased account transparency on Facebook and Instagram can help people make "more informed decisions about the posts they read, trust, and share."
Propaganda pages have long affected Facebook
Facebook hopes that this, and other transparency-focused changes, would help users dodge propaganda spread by foreign trolls. Notably, the company has been dealing with this issue since the 2016 Presidential Elections by launching tools aimed at combating misinformation, including one that marks posts as false, as well as aggressively removing suspicious accounts related to Russia and Iran.
Currently, location information is being piloted in the US
As of now, the new location information feature is being piloted with users in the US who will be able to see the location information of high-reach Pages and Instagram accounts that are based outside the country.
