Social media Facebook is trying out a new feature that warns users of sites such as the Onion, which posts satirical content.
According to Facebook, satirical stories have aroused angry comments and confusion from some social media users thus; their feedback has emphasized the need for the feature.
“We are doing a small test which demonstrates the text ‘Satire’ ahead of links to satirical articles within the related articles unit in News Feed. This is since we got feedback that several people needed a clearer way to differentiate satirical articles from others within these units,” said Facebook’s representative.
Sites such as the Daily Mash and Onion in the UK and US publish news that are satirical, which often reflect the current news agenda as well as mimic mainstream media. However, they are frequently mistaken by professional news organizations and social network users as genuine news stories.
Recently, Facebook has faced criticism of how its news feed feature is being managed.
It is still not apparent whether the trial will be permanently rolled out throughout the site or the number of satirical sites that will have their content tagged in this manner.
