Being accused of playing a "key role in making Donald Trump a more popular choice in the US elections," Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg has refuted the claims as "crazy".
Speaking at a technology conference, he said, "Personally I think the idea that fake news on Facebook, which is a very small amount of the content, influenced the election in any way — I think is a pretty crazy idea. Voters make decisions based on their lived experience.”
“If you believe that, then I don’t think you have internalised the message the Trump supporters are trying to send in this election," he added.
He also reasoned that if there were fake news being spread then they would have worked both ways. There would have been similar articles about Hillary Clinton as well as Donald Trump.
“Liberals and conservatives see about 1 per cent less news from the opposing side than they would if Facebook didn’t tweak the news feed,” he said
Zuckerberg also explained that filter bubble would also not have affected the news feed reaching people. By that logic, Trump supoorters would have seen posts from fellow Trump supports and likewise, Hillary's supporters would have seen feed from other supporters of her.
Zuckerberg did mention that he is worried about the impact that Facebook has on democracy and wants to work at improved and better distribution of news.
After Trump won the elections, the Facebook CEO had put up a Facebook post and mentioned that everyone can work harder together. "We are all blessed to have the ability to make the world better, and we have the responsibility to do it. Let's go work even harder," his post said.
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| Idea Of Fake News On Facebook Influencing US Elections Is Crazy, Says Zuckerberg |
