Facebook will now “fact check” memes and videos in a deeper effort to cut out “fake news.” Facebook believes that “Russian agents” used both mediums to influence the 2016 election.

Both videos and images have long been considered complicated to monitor due to their lack of text.

“People share millions of photos and videos on Facebook every day. We know that this kind of sharing is particularly compelling because it’s visual. That said, it also creates an easy opportunity for manipulation by bad actors,” Facebook stated in an official post.

Facebook strongly believes that Russia used edited photos and videos to help Trump win the election. So now, in an effort to keep us all safe, Facebook will further censor content for us.

Because, that’s what we need more of (censorship).

Facebook has made strong efforts to “fact check” paid ad campaigns. An advertiser who promote content that “effects or influences national security” have had to have their IDs validated before running those campaigns on Facebook’s advertising platform.

“Many of our third-party fact-checking partners have expertise evaluating photos and videos and are trained in visual verification techniques, such as reverse image searching and analyzing image metadata, like when and where the photo or video was taken,” Facebook said. “Fact-checkers are able to assess the truth or falsity of a photo or video by combining these skills with other journalistic practices, like using research from experts, academics or government agencies.”

Facebook users already have the ability to flag memes and videos.

It now seems that at every turn, big tech is attempting to censor our content and communications under the guise of “increased security.”

Back in March, Microsoft announced that it would ban offensive content on Skype messenger. Skype, a private messenger that involves private communications, is now censored for establishment-disagreeable content.

Last week, YouTube seemingly rigged their search algorithm on the Elon Musk incident to prioritize mainstream outlet channels above the original content.

Photo by Andrew Feinberg

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