Tencent’s fake news debunkers reached nearly 300 million WeChat users last year
- A claim that onions can kill the flu virus was shared over 400,000 times on the social media app
Tencent Holdings, operator of China’s biggest social media platform WeChat, said it reached almost 300 million people with its campaign to debunk fake news last year as Chinese regulators and private internet companies continue their clean up of online content.
WeChat, the ubiquitous messaging and social media app with more than one billion users, partnered with 774 third-party organisations, including the police and China’s food and drug authority, to produce 3,994 articles debunking rumours in 2018, according to a report released by Tencent on Monday. The articles were read more than 1 billion times, reaching 295 million users.
Tencent’s rumour debunkers, using a mini-program in WeChat, worked in concert with dedicated official WeChat accounts and a fact-checking platform for its news services. The mini-program alone posted myth-buster stories that generated 230 million visits from more than 38 million users last year.
Popular fake news topics ranged from food safety and health care to stories about society. One of the most widely circulated rumours, a claim that onions can kill the flu virus, was shared over 400,000 times on the social media app, mainly among males aged 25 to 55, according to the report.
The middle-aged and elderly, while vulnerable to rumours, are also active in circulating the fake news, especially stories stoking fears of death and health hazards. Due to their lower level of education and inability to identify misinformation, elderly people in rural areas are more likely to spread the rumours than those in cities, the report shows.