Social media giant, Facebook, have announced their plans to introduce an “old news” warning system when a user shares something that is over 3 months old.
There has been concerns for some time that Facebook users often share news that is misleading and or worrying due to the fact it is out of date and often irrelevant to what’s happening now.
In the Press Release from Facebook, they claim ” the timeliness of an article is an important piece of context that helps people decide what to read, trust and share.”
Can I still share “old news”?
From the announcement it appears that you can still share articles and posts that are older than 3 months old once you have acknowledged the popup warning.
Why are Facebook doing this?
Depending on their nature old posts can cause worry and alarm to users if it is something that isn’t relevant anymore or happened in the past. It can also fuel old debates and arguments that have been left to lie. Another reason could be that everyone’s already seen it before…twice, maybe three times and are bored of seeing it.
News needs to be relevant, sharing a post from 2017 that someone lost their dog in your local area probably doesn’t fit that criteria.
When will I see the change on Facebook?
Facebook are in the process of rolling out the change now, across the globe to all users. They have also suggested using a similar warnings system for other scenarios, such as messages/posts concerning COVID-19 and the reliability of the source.
