Facebook is rolling out a new feature that will alert people if they go to share an article that’s over 90 days old.
The global feature is “To ensure people have the context they need to make informed decisions about what to share on Facebook”, VP Feed and Stories John Hegeman said in a blog post.
At a remarkable time for the world with the coronavirus pandemic and the undeniable police brutality in the United States and other countries, it’s more important than ever that news shared is recent and contextually sound. Facebook is hoping that this small notification might stop people spreading old and out of context news.
Hegeman added that:
“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have already taken steps to address this on their own websites by prominently labeling older articles to prevent outdated news from being used in misleading ways.”
It’s a bit rich for Facebook to claim it cares about what news publishers think considering Facebook refuses, in many instances, to remove fake or misleading articles from its platform. But if it stops people sharing content that isn’t relevant anymore, it should be a good thing.
The company also said that it is preparing a similar-style notification for information shared on the coronavirus that gives information on the source and further links to health authorities.
Author: Henry Burrell, Phones Editor
Henry is Tech Advisor’s Phones Editor, ensuring he and the team covers and reviews every smartphone worth knowing about for readers and viewers all over the world. He spends a lot of time moving between different handsets and shouting at WhatsApp to support multiple devices at once.