Skip to main content

Facebook will now alert users before sharing old articles on the social network

Facebook continues to implement measures to prevent fake news and misinformation on the web. The company is now testing a new method to ensure that users will not share old articles that are no longer valid or contain outdated information.

Currently Facebook already provides a context button for each link shared on the social network, which reveals information about the source of that content. The new strategy is more aggressive as it alerts users whenever they try to share an article that was first published over 3 months ago.

According to John Hegeman, VP of Feed and Stories, the company has noticed that some people are sharing old stories as if they were new, causing misunderstandings to the facts.

Over the past several months, our internal research found that the timeliness of an article is an important piece of context that helps people decide what to read, trust and share. News publishers in particular have expressed concerns about older stories being shared on social media as current news, which can misconstrue the state of current events. Some news publishers have already taken steps to address this on their own websites by prominently labeling older articles to prevent outdated news from being used in misleading ways.

As pointed by Gizmodo, Twitter is trying a similar approach by asking users if they have read an article before they retweet it.

The new alert on Facebook is being rolled out to a small group of users and is expected to be available to all users in the coming weeks. The company also said it’s implementing more ways to prevent the spread of fake news about COVID-19.

FTC: We use income earning auto affiliate links. More.

MacStadium macOS VM
You’re reading 9to5Mac — experts who break news about Apple and its surrounding ecosystem, day after day. Be sure to check out our homepage for all the latest news, and follow 9to5Mac on Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn to stay in the loop. Don’t know where to start? Check out our exclusive stories, reviews, how-tos, and subscribe to our YouTube channel

Comments

Author

Avatar for Filipe Espósito Filipe Espósito

Filipe Espósito is a Brazilian tech Journalist who started covering Apple news on iHelp BR with some exclusive scoops — including the reveal of the new Apple Watch Series 5 models in titanium and ceramic. He joined 9to5Mac to share even more tech news around the world.

Manage push notifications

notification icon
We would like to show you notifications for the latest news and updates.
notification icon
You are subscribed to notifications
notification icon
We would like to show you notifications for the latest news and updates.
notification icon
You are subscribed to notifications