Request Media Kit

Facebook Is Reminding Idiots That The Onion Is Satire

Because people are generally idiots, Facebook has begun reminding people that articles from The Onion are indeed satirical, and should not be shared as serious articles replete with outrage, disgust, ...
Facebook Is Reminding Idiots That The Onion Is Satire
Written by Josh Wolford
  • Because people are generally idiots, Facebook has begun reminding people that articles from The Onion are indeed satirical, and should not be shared as serious articles replete with outrage, disgust, and general displeasure. I guess some Facebook engineer saw his friend Tiffany, once again outraged by the man that locked himself in a hot car to prove that babies and dogs are cowards, and said screw it – I gotta do something about this.

    For some users, Facebook is generating a [Satire] tag in front of article titles in the “related articles” feature in the news feed. You know how Facebook will auto-generate three related articles under any article that you interact with? Well, if any of those articles come from The Onion, they’re being labeled as [Satire].

    Ars Technica first spotted this, and I was able to recreate it in my own news feed.

    Oddly enough, the [Satire] tag only appears in the related article box, not beside the original article. This could be an oversight, or simply a future feature that Facebook hasn’t added yet. Or all of this could vanish as quickly as it appeared, as Facebook tests tons of new features every week and abandons most of them.

    Although I do enjoy grabbing a bucket of popcorn, leaning back, and watching the shitstorm unfold when a friend shares an Onion article they think is real, Facebook’s simple reminder is probably best for mankind. If you want to see the human race in its finest form, you can check out the site Literally Unbelievable, which is devoted entirely to people sharing Onion articles as truth.

    Get the WebProNews newsletter
    delivered to your inbox

    Get the free daily newsletter read by decision makers

    Subscribe
    Advertise with Us

    Ready to get started?

    Get our media kit