TikTok is set to launch a media literacy hub aimed at helping its users discern fake news and misinformation online in the run-up to the General Election.
The social media bgiant has partnered with fact-checking organisation Logically Facts to create the hub. The new in-app feature will concentrate on critical thinking and news literacy, covering areas such as identifying fake news online and offering tips for consuming a balanced range of news.
“With misinformation and disinformation being found on every corner of the internet, the hub contains guidelines which have been designed to help critique and judge the trustworthiness of the information we find online,” TikTok stated in a blog post about the new tool. “Whenever or wherever they engage in content, we encourage our community to stop, think and check the resources.”
This initiative follows the introduction of a dedicated General Election Centre on the platform in the UK, which directs users to official information from the Electoral Commission. Prompts for the centre appear on election-related content and when users make election-related searches.
“As the United Kingdom prepares to go to the polls for the General Election, we are committed to ensuring that our TikTok community has the skills to assess whether the information that they read, see or hear during this busy time is reliable and accurate,” TikTok said.