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In this Monday, June 19, 2017, file photo, a user gets ready to launch Facebook on an iPhone, in North Andover, Mass.Elise Amendola/The Associated Press

Facebook says it is changing how it identifies "fake news" stories on its platform to a more effective system.

The social-media network had put "disputed" labels on stories that fact-checkers found false. Instead, now it will bring up "related articles" next to the false stories that give context from fact-checkers on the stories' problems.

Facebook said Wednesday that in its tests, fewer hoax articles were shared when they had fact-checkers' articles spooled up next to them than when they were labeled with "disputed" flags.

The new approach also may help speed up the fact-checking system, which sometimes worked too slowly . Now information from just one checker can be shown next to the false story. The labeling system required two fact-checkers.

Facebook said on Wednesday it would build a web page to allow users to see which Russian propaganda accounts they have liked or followed, after U.S. lawmakers demanded that the social network be more open about the reach of the accounts.

Reuters

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