• Home
  • Latest
  • Fortune 500
  • Finance
  • Tech
  • Leadership
  • Lifestyle
  • Rankings
  • Multimedia
Tech

No, Facebook Isn’t Limiting Your News Feed Updates to 26 Friends

By
Don Reisinger
Don Reisinger
Down Arrow Button Icon
By
Don Reisinger
Don Reisinger
Down Arrow Button Icon
February 7, 2018, 11:02 AM ET

There’s a Facebook hoax making the rounds that has forced the world’s largest social network to respond.

Late last year, a post hit the social network claiming that Facebook was limiting the updates in your News Feed to posts from just 26 of your friends. The post blamed it on an algorithm change Facebook made that “chooses the people” in the News Feed. Subsequent posts said the limit was 25 people.

At the time, according to a listing on Snopes, a site that aims at verifying or busting myths, it didn’t gain much traction. But after Facebook announced an algorithm change in January that would reduce the amount of times you’d see content from certain news publishers, it picked up steam. And an increasing number of people at least wondered, and at worst, believed, that they could only see content from two dozen of their friends.

Get Data Sheet, Fortune’s technology newsletter

Snopes, which published its findings on Tuesday, investigated and discovered that the claims were false and there is no way to know exactly what Facebook’s algorithms do. Others that take some time to simply count updates from unique friends in their News Feeds can likely come to the same conclusion rather quickly.

Still, Snopes reached out to Facebook, which told the site that the post is false. And that should be that.

“Friends don’t let friends copy and paste memes, and this one simply is not true,” a Facebook spokesperson told Fortune in a statement. “We rank News Feed based on how relevant each post might be to you, and while we’ve made some updates that could increase the number of posts you see from your friends, your News Feed isn’t limited to 25 of them.”

About the Author
By Don Reisinger
See full bioRight Arrow Button Icon

Latest in Tech

Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025

Most Popular

Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Rankings
  • 100 Best Companies
  • Fortune 500
  • Global 500
  • Fortune 500 Europe
  • Most Powerful Women
  • Future 50
  • World’s Most Admired Companies
  • See All Rankings
Sections
  • Finance
  • Leadership
  • Success
  • Tech
  • Asia
  • Europe
  • Environment
  • Fortune Crypto
  • Health
  • Retail
  • Lifestyle
  • Politics
  • Newsletters
  • Magazine
  • Features
  • Commentary
  • Mpw
  • CEO Initiative
  • Conferences
  • Personal Finance
  • Education
Customer Support
  • Frequently Asked Questions
  • Customer Service Portal
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms Of Use
  • Single Issues For Purchase
  • International Print
Commercial Services
  • Advertising
  • Fortune Brand Studio
  • Fortune Analytics
  • Fortune Conferences
  • Business Development
About Us
  • About Us
  • Editorial Calendar
  • Press Center
  • Work At Fortune
  • Diversity And Inclusion
  • Terms And Conditions
  • Site Map
  • Facebook icon
  • Twitter icon
  • LinkedIn icon
  • Instagram icon
  • Pinterest icon

Latest in Tech

Photo of Elon Musk
C-SuiteElon Musk
‘Don’t look at the résumé’: Elon Musk admits he’s ‘fallen prey’ to flashy credentials but says conversation matters most when hiring
By Jacqueline MunisFebruary 9, 2026
2 hours ago
amodei
AIAdvertising
Scott Galloway on why that Anthropic Super Bowl ad got under Sam Altman’s skin and exposed ‘therapy’ as the AI use case
By Nick LichtenbergFebruary 9, 2026
2 hours ago
journalists
CommentaryMedia
I’m a war gamer for the Navy and I know why you don’t trust the media anymore. It’s fighting yesterday’s battles
By Charles Edward Gehrke and The ConversationFebruary 9, 2026
2 hours ago
kiara
AIstart-ups
Exclusive: Peter Thiel–backed industrial AI startup emerges from stealth in a16z ‘American Dynamism’ push
By Nick LichtenbergFebruary 9, 2026
5 hours ago
Photo of Mark Zuckerberg
AIMeta
As billionaires bail, Mark Zuckerberg doubles down on California with $50 million donation
By Sydney LakeFebruary 9, 2026
5 hours ago
Thasunda Brown Duckett, TIAA CEO, speaks onstage during a live taping of "Earn Your Leisure" at Martin Luther King Jr. International Chapel at Morehouse College on January 22, 2024 in Atlanta, Georgia.
FinanceFortune 500 Companies
Meet the 10 Black Fortune 500 CEOs leading companies with over $412 billion in combined revenues
By Cheyann HarrisFebruary 9, 2026
7 hours ago

Most Popular

placeholder alt text
Economy
Elon Musk warns the U.S. is '1,000% going to go bankrupt' unless AI and robotics save the economy from crushing debt
By Jason MaFebruary 7, 2026
2 days ago
placeholder alt text
Economy
Russian officials are warning Putin that a financial crisis could arrive this summer, report says, while his war on Ukraine becomes too big to fail
By Jason MaFebruary 8, 2026
1 day ago
placeholder alt text
Economy
China might be beginning to back away from U.S. debt as investors get nervous about overexposure to American assets
By Eleanor PringleFebruary 9, 2026
10 hours ago
placeholder alt text
Commentary
America marks its 250th birthday with a fading dream—the first time that younger generations will make less than their parents
By Mark Robert Rank and The ConversationFebruary 8, 2026
1 day ago
placeholder alt text
Commentary
We studied 70 countries' economic data for the last 60 years and something big about market crashes changed 25 years ago
By Josh Ederington, Jenny Minier and The ConversationFebruary 8, 2026
1 day ago
placeholder alt text
AI
As billionaires bail, Mark Zuckerberg doubles down on California with $50 million donation
By Sydney LakeFebruary 9, 2026
5 hours ago

© 2026 Fortune Media IP Limited. All Rights Reserved. Use of this site constitutes acceptance of our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy | CA Notice at Collection and Privacy Notice | Do Not Sell/Share My Personal Information
FORTUNE is a trademark of Fortune Media IP Limited, registered in the U.S. and other countries. FORTUNE may receive compensation for some links to products and services on this website. Offers may be subject to change without notice.