Facebook said on Tuesday it has taken steps to clamp down on fake news stories that can spread on its 1.35-billion member online social network. The company said it had introduced an option to allow Facebook users to flag a story as "purposefully fake or deceitful news" to reduce the distribution of news stories reported as hoaxes.

Facebook will not remove fake news stories from its website, but the company's algorithm will take into account hoax reports.

"A post with a link to an article that many people have reported as a hoax or chose to delete will get reduced distribution in the News Feed," Facebook said.

Facebook said "satirical" content, such as news stories "intended to be humorous, or content that is clearly labeled as satire," should not be affected.