mark zuckerberg on saturday vigorously defended facebook inc. against criticism that fake news and misinformation on the social media site may have swayed the outcome of the presidential election, emphasizing his view that facebook<u+2019>s role isn<u+2019>t to be <u+201c>arbiters of truth.<u+201d> mr. zuckerberg, facebook<u+2019>s chief executive and co-founder, said in a lengthy post that less than 1% of the site<u+2019>s world-wide content could be classified as fake. <u+201c>overall, this makes it extremely unlikely hoaxes changed the outcome of this election in one direction or the other,<u+201d> mr. zuckerberg said in a post on his facebook page late saturday . he said the fake news occurs across party lines. content on facebook includes personal updates, photos and other information that isn<u+2019>t considered news. since not everyone sees the same content, some users<u+2019> feeds may feature significantly more fake news than others. mr. zuckerberg said that facebook is developing tools to reduce fake news on the site, but that its responsibility should be limited. defining the <u+201c>truth<u+201d> is complicated, mr. zuckerberg wrote. <u+201c>we must be extremely cautious about becoming arbiters of truth ourselves.<u+201d> as readers reacted to mr. zuckerberg<u+2019>s post on saturday, the ceo took to the comments section to address a handful of specific questions. he rejected the idea that facebook identify itself as a media company because its primary use is connecting friends. <u+201c>news and media are not the primary things people do on facebook, so i find it odd when people insist we call ourselves a news or media company in order to acknowledge its importance,<u+201d> he said. the election has forced facebook to reckon with the way the platform has shaped political discourse through its news feed , the central river of information, images, videos and news that is visited most often by facebook<u+2019>s users. mr. zuckerberg<u+2019>s weekend post amplified comments he made thursday that the accusation facebook influenced the election was <u+201c>a pretty crazy idea.<u+201d> facebook has often expressed pride in the way it can shape users<u+2019> actions and purchase decisions, and has used that to generate billions of dollars in advertising revenue. but mr. zuckerberg<u+2019>s post contends facebook<u+2019>s power is limited in shaping political views. <u+201c>facebook has described themselves as a neutral platform... but they<u+2019>re creating this product that delivers news to people and that<u+2019>s sort of traditionally associated with media companies,<u+201d> said michelle de mooy, an acting director of the privacy team at the center for democracy & technology, a nonprofit and nonpartisan tech advocacy organization in washington, d.c. facebook<u+2019>s power as a source of information raises questions of whether it should force its users to see opposing views or hire an ombudsman who can oversee news on the platform, she said. about 44% of americans get at least some of their news from facebook, according to pew research. prompts from the company this year encouraged more than two million users to register to vote and, mr. zuckerberg said, the company estimates it got a <u+201c>similar number of people to vote who might have stayed home otherwise.<u+201d> a 2012 study by facebook showed that the company<u+2019>s messages to users <u+201c>directly influenced political self-expression, information seeking and real-world voting behavior of millions of people.<u+201d> candidates, notably donald trump, used facebook to connect directly with voters. some of mr. trump<u+2019>s posts ignited debate within facebook over whether they should be removed for violating the company<u+2019>s decency standards. the algorithms underlying the news feed reward posts that drive a lot of engagement, in the form of shares, likes and comments. but that same formula encourages fake news, hoaxes and misinformation, according to critics, which include former and current facebook employees, who are openly disturbed by the election of mr. trump. another concern is that facebook<u+2019>s algorithm puts its users in a <u+201c>filter bubble<u+201d> where they only hear news and information from people who agree with them. mr. zuckerberg has repeatedly rejected that assessment, including on saturday. saturday, mr. zuckerberg said he was proud of the role facebook played in connecting voters with candidates and fostering discussion about the election. <u+201c>a lot of that [dialogue] may not have happened without facebook.<u+201d> write to deepa seetharaman at deepa.seetharaman@wsj.com
mark zuckerberg continues to defend facebook against criticism it may have swayed election  - wsj
deepa seetharaman