Facebook Will Help Its Users Stop Falling For Satire Pages

Satire news articles and social media posts aren't anything new, but many people keep falling for them — and, depending on the nature of the satire, they may end up with the wrong idea about important topics. Facebook is home to a number of satire Pages, and now the social media network is taking steps to help its users understand posts from them.

In an announcement today, Facebook said that it is rolling out a small 'Satire Page' label that will be visible to users in the United States. This is a test at this time and will slowly be joined by additional Page labels, including things like 'Fan Page' and 'Public Official.'

The labels will be visible below the Page's name in posts found in the News Feed. According to Facebook, these new labels are intended to shed light on the type of Page a post is from 'so people can better understand who they're coming from.'

This should help cut down on the number of users who mistake satire posts for legitimate commentary, as well as making it easier to determine whether the content is coming from an official or fan Page. Given that this is a test, it is possible the labels will change at some point in the future, though that's yet to be seen.

Likewise, it may be a while before all users start seeing these new labels — a quick check on our end showed satire Facebook Pages that did not feature the label, for example. It's also unclear when Facebook may roll out these new labels to users outside of the United States.