AFP tightens rules on using social networks

Agence France-Presse is tightening its rules and applying the same verification methods as it uses for traditional sources. These principles are being put in place because of the open nature of the Internet. Journalists must be particularly cautious in verifying Twitter accounts, Facebook pages and websites before using them as information sources.

The Agency may have to use videos and photos posted on the social networks. This is sometimes the inevitable recourse, for example when the professional media is excluded by national authorities from covering events, as is the case in Iran or Syria, or when a witness posts exclusive or exceptional images of an event.

The rules of use established for photos and video include the authentification of content and require the author of the images to be traced, apart from exceptional situations authorised by the News Directorate. Agence France-Presse is also equipped with the Tungstene software to enhance its checks of images supplied by a third-party. This tool allows any manipulations of the image to be identified. The software has already proved its worth when AFP used it to identify an image of Osama Bin Laden as a fake.

To access the rules of usage for social media

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