BINGHAMTON, N.Y. -- Hours after Binghamton Mayor Rich David's first debate against challenger Tarik Abdelazim, a social media post drew a bit of controversy.

The Press & Sun-Bulletin article shared on David's campaign's Facebook page Tuesday night runs down his opponent, making it appear as if it was posted by the paper. But according to the Press & Sun-Bulletin, the headline -- "Tarik Abdelazim backpedals on record in first mayoral debate" -- was not theirs. The original read "Face Off in Mayor Race: Housing, crime hot topics."

The altered headline comes from a little-known feature that lets Facebook users change "link previews" when posting articles. According to Facebook, this feature was supposed to have been phased out as an effort to stop the spread of misinformation and false news.

Jonathan Parent, assistant professor of political science at Le Moyne, says social media is now playing a bigger role than ever on all levels of politics.

"I think a lot of this social media stuff, we're still sort of feeling our way out as to how it affects politics, and we obviously saw that in the 2016 presidential election," Parent said, "so the fact that this is happening on a local level now is very interesting, and I think it's going to change the way elections happen."

In its reporting, the Press & Sun says the David administration has changed a total of 16 headlines.

The mayor took responsibility, but did not go on camera, instead releasing a statement, saying in part, "We could and should have done better communicating our message consistent with Facebook's evolving best practices, and clearer in presenting links to news stories."

A search of the headlines indicates they have since been changed back.