Facebook is looking to stop its users being subject to ‘spammy’ links that lead to less-than-desirable web pages – by making sure the websites that promote this content are demoted on people’s news feeds.  

Facebook says it is using AI to determine which posts might lead to low-quality web pages, after reviewing ‘hundreds of thousands’ pages that are linked to from the social network. Links that are misleading, are suggestive, disruptive, or malicious, or lead to pages with more ads than content, will all find themselves falling down feeds through Facebook’s updated algorithm.

“We hear from our community that they’re disappointed when they click on a link that leads to a web page containing little substantive content and that is covered in disruptive, shocking or malicious ads,” said Facebook in a post. “People expect their experience after clicking on a post to be straightforward.”

The update to Facebook’s news feed rankings is a continuation of its efforts to clean up its platform and rid it of any ‘fake news’ or misinformation. Over the last few months, the tech giant has handed out tips for spotting fake news, create a fake news initiative with the likes of Ford and AppNexus, roll out a fake news flagging tool, and update its ‘Trending Topics’ to counter fake news.