Facebook has unveiled plans to clamp down on "click-bait" headlines littering users' news feeds.
In a potentially significant development for ews organisations, the site says it plans to "weed out" spam news stories carrying headlines which content does not live up to.
The social network announced the move after commissioning research into what people like to see in the feeds.
It says it plans to filter out stories if people spend only a short amount of time visiting the site they have clicked away from Facebook to read, or do not "share" or "like" the stories when they return to their news feeds.
Khalid El-Arini and Joyce Tang, the researchers behind Facebook's survey, wrote: "Over time, stories with ‘click-bait’ headlines can drown out content from friends and Pages that people really care about.
"Over time, stories with “click-bait” headlines can drown out content from friends and Pages that people really care about."
The announcement could have far-reaching implications for news organisations who compete with one another for "shares" and "likes" as part of the race to reach the top of people's news feeds.
