'Fake news on Facebook swayed voters?...That's crazy', says Mark Zuckerberg

Facebook CEO Zuckerberg rejects the notion that 'fake news' on the platform influenced the outcome of the US election.

"If I were to run, I’d run as a Republican. They are the dumbest group of voters in the country. They believe anything on Fox News. I could lie and they’d still eat it up. I bet my numbers would be terrific.”

This quote was attributed to a 1998 interview with Donald Trump in People magazine, in Facebook's news feed. Needless to say it went viral on Facebook as well as other platforms. But, it soon came to light that the quote was fake.

Many news publications reported that this seemed to be a great example of the kind of misinformation plaguing the 2016 American election, on an unprecedented scale. While in India one is familiar with how social media brings forth polarising views based on reports that could be misinformed, Facebook is now said to be facing pressure to not only tackle the problem of 'fake news' but also to find ways to encourage healthier discourse between people with different political views.

Rather than connecting people – as Facebook’s euphoric mission statement claims it was doing more to divide the world, accused many media observers.

In a response to the above, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg has asserted that 'fake news' is not the only influence in voting designs. He also rejected the idea that Facebook's news feeds are becoming increasingly personalised to the point that opposing views are no longer visible – a phenomenon known as the filter bubble.

Source :https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2016/nov/10/facebook-fake-news-us-election-mark-zuckerberg-donald-trump