Facebook Is Adding Labels to Satire Pages In The News Feed

Facebook announced it is testing the use of page labels as a way to give people more context about the posts that appear in their news feed.

According to the social network, these labels will include “public official,” “fan page,” and “satire page.” The company says it’s already started testing the deployment of these labels in the US, and will gradually add them to more posts.

READ ALSO: Facebook Updates News Feeds To Give Users More Control

The labels should also allow users to immediately realize when they are reading news from real authorities or more questionable sources, which could reduce confusion, mitigate the spread of fake news on the platform, and reduce avoidable flame wars in comments.

Starting today in the US, we’re testing a way to give people more context about the Pages they see. We’ll gradually start applying labels including 'public official,' 'fan page' or 'satire page' to posts in News Feed, so people can better understand who they’re coming from. pic.twitter.com/Bloc3b2ycb

— Facebook Newsroom (@fbnewsroom) April 7, 2021

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Definitely, Facebook posts can prompt a lot of heated debate, with misinterpretation playing a big role. Indeed, Facebook's own research has shown that basic misunderstandings can often be a key element in sparking online angst, so any additional context or explanatory information can only help in reducing confusion, and easing tensions.

Since Facebook has only started testing the feature, it may take some time before it can properly label posts.