The strategy is much like the one Facebook uses to curb clickbait. The social network looks for common phrases in these bogus health posts and uses those to predict the likelihood that a post is leading people astray. If there's a close fit, that post is less likely to show up in your News Feed.

Although Facebook is only discussing the update now, there's a certain amount of urgency to it. People in private Facebook groups have been circulating a myth that bleach would 'cure' autism in children -- it was not only a falsehood, but genuinely dangerous. A crackdown like this could prevent serious harm and keep Facebook out of (further) trouble.