German lawmakers recently announced their plan to create a bill that will inevitably require social networking giant Facebook to pay a hefty fine of $535,000 for not removing fake news on its platform within 24 hours. As part of Facebook's effort to curb this ongoing hysteria over fake news, the company announced that it would start testing a new filtering system to censor fake news in Germany.

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Facebook announced late last year that the company is building a new protocol to give users the ability to properly report fake news on its platform. Facebook told Gizmondo that it had started testing the same filter in the United States almost a month ago.

A Facebook spokesperson told Gizmondo, "When we launched this in the US we said that we would expand the pilot into other countries over time. We've listened to our community and begun talks with other global partners, and the readiness of German partners allows us to begin testing in Germany."

The Facebook spokesperson added that the social networking giant is planning to expand its new tool to other countries soon. The spokesperson said once a fake news article is flagged on Facebook's platform, the user who shared the article will receive a link explaining why it is fake. Moreover, once a certain article is flagged as fake, it cannot be used as an ad or be promoted by other users.

Aside from giving its users an easier way to report and flag fake news articles, Facebook plans to tag suspected users who are sharing fake news. As part of its effort to curb down fake news, Facebook will tap the services of third-party fact checkers who are signatories of the Poynter's International Fact Checking of Principles, according to Tech Crunch.