Facebook Tweaks Its News Feed to Cut Down on Hoaxes
How the social network wants to make sure you won't fall for a fake story.
— -- A new Facebook policy aims to scrub your news feed clean of possible hoaxes.
The first line of defense for stopping the spread of misinformation is with users. Facebook is asking people to help weed out false and misleading reports by flagging stories with a simple click.
If enough people report a story, Facebook said it will still share the message in news feeds but will add a warning message that indicates a post has been reported as a potential hoax.
The algorithm will also take into account how many people choose to delete a post after a link has been reported, which Facebook said often signals that a story is bogus.
When it comes to your favorite satirical news websites, you can rest easy. The social network said it found in testing that people tend to not report content that is clearly created to garner a few laughs. Whew.