“Male birth control testing stopped after men’s testicles start exploding in India.”

A viral story shared on Facebook about male birth control testing — claiming that it caused men’s testicles to explode — originated on a satirical website. But some online posts don’t make that clear. 

They were flagged as part of Facebook’s efforts to combat false news and misinformation on its News Feed. (Read more about our partnership with Facebook.) 

“Male birth control testing stopped after men’s testicles start exploding in India,” reads the headline. Readers of the story are directed to “faceofmalawi.com” below the headline, and “n pas” is cited as a source at the end of the article. 

That refers to “npas,” which are the letters at the top of the website ihlayanews.com, where the story appeared on Dec. 3. Below “npas” are the words “nuusparodie waarvan jy hou.” As AFP Fact Check notes, that’s Afrikaans for “news parody you like.”   

But the post flagged by Facebook includes no such disclaimer. 

We rate it Pants on Fire!