Facebook's Adding Publisher Logos to News Links to Reduce the Reach of Misleading Content

Facebook has announced the introduction of publisher logos next to articles in Trending and Search surfaces on the social media site.

The move is part of ongoing efforts to enhance people's recognition of the sources of news distributed on our platform, Product Manager, Andrew Anker, said in a release.

"To start, we are introducing these logo treatments exclusively for articles in Trending and Search, but the eventual goal is to extend these to all places where people consume news on our platform."

That's just the beginning. Publisher logos will start appearing elsewhere on Facebook.

Facebook cited the change as a result of its ongoing discussion with media companies via its Facebook Journalism Project, an effort launched in the wake of widespread criticism following the 2016 election.

People who get their news on Facebook tend not to realize where that content comes from, removing important information for readers as well as hurting the ability for publishers to build their audience. A Pew Research Center report found that only about half of online news readers could name where they had read a story. On top of that, Facebook was named by readers as the source of the news almost as much as any other outlet.

This research has shown that when people see a link to an article, it can be difficult for them to associate that link with a particular source.

Logos will appear on desktop and mobile, as well as when users search for topics. Publishers will need to upload their logos.

By surfacing publisher logos next to article links, Facebook wants to make it easier for publishers to extend their brand identity on Facebook--to enhance people's awareness of the source of content they see on Facebook, so they can better decide what to read and share.