facebook inc. <u+2019>s growing clout has spawned a series of prominent controversies<u+2014>and increased confidence in staring them down. the flaps extend from its core social network<u+2014>which has gained so many users that it is now central to discourse in the u.s.<u+2014>to areas well beyond its original purpose of keeping family and friends in touch, such as selling virtual reality gear and expanding internet access to poor and rural areas. facebook<u+2019>s leadership has responded with unwavering confidence punctuated by occasional contrition<u+2014>as in the case of recent ad metrics problems . chief executive mark zuckerberg <u+2019>s stalwart defense of the company has at times met with internal dissent as well as outside complaint. in the past several weeks, facebook has defended itself against criticism that its platform fueled misinformation and division in the presidential election, assuaged advertisers after inflating user metrics, and reversed a decision on censoring its content after a public spat with the prime minister of norway. those followed flare-ups earlier in the year over perceived liberal bias in its <u+201c>trending topics<u+201d> feature and claims of cultural insensitivity around the launch of its free basics service in india. in part, these issues flow from facebook<u+2019>s enormous reach<u+2014>its number of monthly users has risen to 1.79 billion, a quarter of the world<u+2019>s population. there is also tension between facebook<u+2019>s view of itself as purely a technological platform and the fact that it figures so prominently in discussions over politics and social issues. <u+201c>a lot of this blowback is facebook has become a victim of its own success<u+2014>it<u+2019>s omnipresent,<u+201d> said antonio garcia-martinez, a former facebook product manager and author of <u+201c>chaos monkeys,<u+201d> about his time at the social network. <u+201c>their unwillingness to embrace that role to some degree or another isn<u+2019>t going to fly anymore.<u+201d> facebook declined to comment for this article. since the election last week, some current and former employees have increasingly questioned facebook<u+2019>s role in the polarizing presidential race. late last year, mr. zuckerberg decided to let posts from donald trump remain on the site even though they violated facebook<u+2019>s policy against hate speech , leading some employees to threaten to quit. the election ignited a storm of criticism that fake news on the site inflamed political divisions by feeding bias. last week, mr. zuckerberg responded by saying the idea that fake news influenced the election is <u+201c>pretty crazy.<u+201d> he later said that fake news is less than 1% of all content on facebook. mr. zuckerberg also said facebook is developing tools to reduce fake news on the site. by most measures, facebook has had a terrific year. it added nearly 200 million monthly users in the first nine months of the year, and its two messaging apps, whatsapp and messenger, both reached the one-billion user mark. facebook<u+2019>s finances are a measure of its unprecedented clout. third-quarter revenue jumped 56%, driven by an influx of advertising dollars , and net income increased to $2.38 billion from less than $1 billion a year before. still, recent concerns about its growth prospects and how it will cope with its controversies have weighed on its stock price. last month following the record earnings report, its shares slumped when facebook said there was a limit to how many more ads it could pump into its news feed. <u+201c>investors are questioning the rising complexity in algorithms needed across a widening product set for facebook to repel bad actors and reinforce user and advertiser confidence,<u+201d> suntrust analyst robert peck said in a research note thursday. shares of facebook are down 12% since they peaked last month, although they are up 13% this year. facebook has known controversy in one form or another since its founding. after the launch of its news feed a decade ago, millions of people threatened to abandon facebook and some picketed its offices, upset that users<u+2019> activity was being made more public. mr. zuckerberg held firm, emboldened by data showing a spike in user activity. this week, facebook revealed it found even more flawed metrics than the overstated video views that it disclosed in september, undercutting advertisers<u+2019> trust. facebook said it would form a <u+201c> measurement council <u+201d> and provide more third-party data verification for advertisers. in parallel, facebook in september apologized and played down the importance of the metrics, saying the miscalculation wouldn<u+2019>t affect ad buys on its site. typically, a crack team of up to a dozen top executives, including mr. zuckerberg and chief operating officer sheryl sandberg, meet to discuss possible responses to high-level problems, people familiar with the company<u+2019>s workings say. internally, facebook urges its employees to keep cool in the face of crisis. <u+201c>one of the things they tell you when you start is <u+2018>we<u+2019>re never as good as they say, and we<u+2019>re never as bad as they say,<u+2019><u+201d> one former employee said. <u+201c>mark seems to believe that if we just keep our heads down, keep trying to incrementally make things better, we<u+2019>ll eventually win people over.<u+201d> write to deepa seetharaman at deepa.seetharaman@wsj.com
facebook fends off crises with confidence - wsj
deepa seetharaman