Facebook has started testing the use of page labels to give users more context about the posts that appear in their news feed.
Facebook today announced via Twitter announced, plans to introduce contextual "labels" for posts from popular pages. Initial tests have begun. Politicians' pages will be labeled "Public Official," while the "Fan Page" and "Satire Page" labels will be applied to posts from the corresponding pages. The goal is to help users distinguish between genuine news reports and satirical stories.
Facebook wants to continue to take action against fake news
The labels are also intended to allow users to instantly identify whether they are reading news from genuine authorities or more questionable sources, which could reduce confusion, curb the spread of fake news on the platform, and reduce avoidable arguments in comments. The new labels will appear under the page names of relevant posts in the news feed. Users can expand them to learn more about why they are deemed necessary. The labels are currently limited to Facebook in the US. The social media giant has been heavily criticized in the past for not doing enough to combat the spread of fake news. A study by researchers at Princeton University in March 2020 found that Facebook is by far the worst social media platform for spreading dubious news content compared to Twitter and Google. (Photo by oasisamuel / Bigstockphoto)
