Have you ever clicked on a video post that ended up opening a link instead of starting a video? I did and I am sure you may have also faced this many times. It took Facebook long time but finally, it is ready to fix this.
Now Facebook will downrank links with a fake play button in the preview image. It will also discourage posts that are just images but uploaded as a video file.
Publishers who use such tactics will also see a major drop in their reach.
Facebook has already prohibited the use of fake play buttons in the advertisements and this has been for a long time. But we all were seeing this in the news feed.
Facebook has already given a way via Open Graph meta tags to tell if there is a video behind the link. You can also use Video word in the headline. But posting a misleading thumbnail will now affect your post reach.
This new change will be rolled out over the next few weeks. The company already tweaked its algorithm to limit click bait posts back in may this year.
