The term 'fake news' has been bandied about in recent months, with no real solution for tackling the issue. Facebook is now looking to address the problem, giving German users the ability to flag potentially false stories. 

Stories flagged by users will then be passed onto third-party fact checkers. If the story is found to be unreliable, it will be marked as "disputed" on the newsfeed. 

"Last month we announced measures to tackle the challenge of fake news on Facebook," the company said in a German-language statement. "We will put these updates in place in Germany in the coming weeks."

Government officials in Germany have expressed concern over the impact false information online could have on their upcoming parliamentary election.