Some people who are distraught of the US election outcome are blaming Facebook for its role. The tech company has billions of users worldwide and millions in the US. Naturally, it's a good platform to reach out to a wide audience.
Facebook is currently alleged to have influenced the election result. Thus, eventually making Donald J. Trump the winner. CEO Mark Zuckerberg comes to the company's defense.
Zuckerberg's Defense Against Some People's Accusations
Zuckerberg went to Facebook and defended the tech giant's position with regards to the US election. He insisted that more than 99 percent of all Facebook news content is authentic. Zuckerberg added that the remaining percentage is the fake news and hoaxes.
This very small figure would unlikely change the outcome of the election in another direction. Apparently, people are specifically blaming fake news and hoaxes for propelling Trump into the US Presidency.
Is The Claim Unfounded?
There is not any study to back this claim of Facebook's played part in the election. Facebook is not exactly transparent of how much of its ad revenue actually comes from political advertising or news promotion, according to the TechCrunch. People don't exactly have the data for their claim.
In fact, exit polls would not be able to show how much the social media platform affected the voter's decision. Zuckerberg's statement will not necessarily stop such allegations.
Facebook Is Not Doing Much With Fake News And Hoaxes
Facebook users can be involved with flagging fake news and hoaxes. The management rely on them to filter through the credible ones to those that are not. Facebook can only do so much. However, the company does have the means to improve the way they handle information shared on their News Feed.
Google has previously done a better job in the fact-checking of new articles in their feed. This does not seem to be Facebook's priority. The issue of fake news and hoaxes will not be resolved anytime soon. Zuckerberg said that they must proceed very carefully with this area.
