Facebook's Zuckerberg offers plan to counter fake news sites

Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg has outlined a seven-point plan to combat fake news sites that played a role in the recent election.

The social media site will attempt to hit the fake news purveyors where it hurts, by interrupting the way these users generate revenue through advertising. In addition, the company will devise algorithms based on users’ flags of false content to help detect future content likely to be fake, and then remove it.

Zuckerberg said Facebook employees were not trying to be “arbiters of truth,” but instead would rely on users to moderate the vast content on the site.

“We believe in giving people a voice, which means erring on the side of letting people share what they want whenever possible,” Zuckerberg said in a post published on the site late Friday night. “We need to be careful not to discourage sharing of opinions or to mistakenly restrict accurate content.”

The company will make it easier for users to report and flag fake stories, and explore ways to include warnings to future readers of that content. It also will reach out to additional third-party organizations to help vet claims made in stories, and will “raise the bar” for how stories are displayed as “related content.”

The announcement came as Zuckerberg flew to Peru to address an Asian-Pacific trade summit in Lima, where he told world leaders Saturday that more connectivity would help raise people out of poverty.

Zuckerberg has been under public pressure since the election, as some observers have suggested that fake news circulated through Facebook may have influenced voters who chose Donald Trump for president. President Obama has said the wide dissemination of false news presents a threat to democratic institutions.

:story: LA Times