Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg doesn’t “think” the spread of fake news on her social media platform helped Donald Trump win the presidential election.
Speaking Thursday on NBC’s “Today” show, Sandberg said Facebook has “taken important steps” to prevent the spread of fake news and conspiracy theories. While some Democrats believe the issue helped Trump defeat Hillary Clinton, Sandberg isn’t among them.
“There have been claims that it swayed the election, and we don’t think it swayed the election,” Sandberg said. “But we take that responsibility really seriously. And we’re looking at things, like working with third parties, helping to label false news, doing the things we can do to make it clearer what’s a hoax on Facebook.”
Last month, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg outlined his plan to fight fake news being spread on Facebook. Zuckerberg initially downplayed the criticisms that fake news being spread on his social media site could have contributed significantly to swaying the 2016 presidential election, but later made concessions to the contrary.
Made-up news has been such a problem across the media landscape that Media Matters, a liberal media-watchdog organization known for its fixation on Fox News, recently announced that fake news will now be its prime target.
“There was a period of time which we were, rightfully so, described as the ‘Fox antagonist’s,” incoming Media Matters president Angelo Carusone told Politico. “Now, our mission is to be principally focused on the value of journalism.”
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