Facebook Now Warns Users Before They Share Old News

Facebook is adding a new prompt that will help users make a decision about whether they want to share a particular article on their News Feed. The alert informs users when they're about to share an article that is old beyond a certain timeframe, reducing the number of aging articles that are shared as if they are recent news stories.

Facebook has developed a variety of refinements to its news-sharing feature, one of which was the addition of a context button that, when clicked, provides users with more information about a news article — which company published it, where it has been shared, and related content.

Facebook presents its new prompt as a feature that builds upon this, adding even more context to a piece of Internet content by alerting users when it is more than 90 days old. By doing this, the social media company explains, Facebook users may share fewer older articles under the mistaken belief that they're new pieces, cutting down on misinformation that spreads on the platform.

The prompt will appear for any article that is more than 90 days old, but will be more specific about its age — for example, if the article is more than one year old, users will be told that using the prompt. Facebook will then give the user two options — they can still share the content or they can 'go back' and change their mind.

Of course, many articles are evergreen, meaning they remain relevant and shareable for long periods of time. This feature seems to be aimed primarily at news-related content, which typically has a short lifespan and loses relevancy quickly. Facebook says that some users will see tests involving similar notifications in coming months.