You’ll soon be able to report fake news on Instagram

Have you spotted fake news on your Instagram feed recently?

The social media giant has come up with a new way to make it easier to report dodgy content online.

Instagram wants its users to help prevent misinformation being shared on its platform.

Starting from the end of August, if an Instagram user sees something that they think may be false, they can tap the ‘Report’ button.

You can then select a new ‘It’s Inappropriate’ button followed by the ‘False Information’ option.

If Instagram receives a certain amount of feedback on the same piece of content, such as a photo or a video, the content will then be reviewed by its third-party fact checkers.

Depending on the nature of the content, it will be removed from the platform.

At the moment, the new tool is being tested in some states in the US as part of a pilot project.

If successful, it will be rolled out slowly around the world, so it will probably come to Malta at some point.

YouTube is also stepping up its efforts to deal with what it calls ‘borderline’ content.

Since introducing changes to the Up Next recommendation algorithm, YouTube says it has seen a 50 per cent reduction in fake news videos.