In January 2015, Facebook announced it was rolling out an option to specifically tag a post as a “false news story.” Every time a post gets tagged as such, Facebook reduces the post’s distribution on the News Feed. The more a post is tagged, the deeper it is buried. 

Have you used it?

One issue that Facebook’s reporting system may have is that the option isn’t that easy to spot.

To report a false news story, a user has to click on a small, barely visible downward-pointing arrow that opens up a menu. On that menu, a user needs to choose “Report post.” Clicking on the option brings up 3 more choices. And it’s only by clicking on “I think it shouldn’t be on Facebook” that the “It’s a false news story” option finally reveals itself.

Now, in order to finish your report, you are forced to block, unfollow, unlike, or send a message to the page.

Compare that with the process of expressing a reaction for a post. Click on the “like” button, and you’re done. Hover on the button and the other options pop up: love, haha, wow, sad and angry. There’s no “fake” emoticon on that pop-up tray. 

Simply put, it’s not as easy to report false news stories as it is to make a reaction. If this is a tool that Facebook truly believes can weed out the fake news in feeds better, the tool has to be made more visible. (READ: To curb hoaxes, Facebook must accept it’s a media company) – Rappler.com