Facebook tests tiny labels on posts to stop users from confusing satire with reality
Washington, US: Social media giant Facebook is adding additional labels to posts from Pages that appear in users' News Feeds in a bid to reduce confusion about their origin. According to The Verge, these labels will include 'public official,' 'fan page,' and 'satire page.' The company said it has already started testing the deployment of these labels in the US, and will gradually add them to more posts.
The company has not offered any explanation as to why it is adding these labels, however, identifying satire seems particularly important. For example, if one takes a look at the social shares for any news article written by well-known satirical sites like 'The Onion' or 'The Babylon Bee' and one will find plenty of people taking these stories at face value. In such a context these posts are essentially a type of misinformation, even if their creators did not intend this. Per The Verge, high-profile figures like former president Donald Trump have mistaken these stories for real reports.
