Facebook trying out new "satire" tag on fake news stories

Facebook is considering adding a 'satire' tag next to fake news articles for all of those people out there who don't quite understand that they are meant to be funny and NOT factual.


Many news stories that go up on Facebook, such as the one that explained how Putin had the man responsible for a mishap during the 2014 Winter Olympic opening killed, are not true and are meant to be humorous. The problem, of course, is that those people who do not read factual news stories might not have the background to understand the humor in satirical news stories, such as those published by The Onion.



This causes a lot of false information to fly around Facebook, creating confusion for everyone, including government officials.


To combat this, Facebook is looking to add a 'satire' tag next to said fake news stories. This will alert readers to take whatever information they read in the articles with a grain of salt, instead of having a panic attack over something that never actually happened.


'We received feedback that people wanted a clearer way to distinguish satirical articles from others in these units,' noted Facebook in a statement.


However, some people think that this will kill the joke. Part of the fun of articles published by The Onion is that they do not explicitly say that they are fake news stories. Putting a 'satire' tag next to the articles might take away that part of the fun and deliver a blow to the art of parody, claims the news site Ars Technica.


Luckily, Facebook has not decided on whether or not it will make the 'satire' tag a permanent part of its site. It will be testing the feature, and then will examine user feedback to decide if the tag should stay or if it should go.


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