Zuckerberg: Claims that Facebook likes fake news are ‘crap’

Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg is hitting back at critics who claim the social media platform benefits from “fake news” stories.

“There have been some accusations that say that we actually want this kind of content on our service because it’s more content and people click on it, but that’s crap,” said Zuckerberg said Monday, according to CNBC.

“No-one in our community wants fake information,” he added, in remarks at North Carolina A&T State University.

The visit was part of a 2017 tour, that’s taking the Silicon Valley exec to all 50 states.

Facebook faced criticism after the 2016 election, with some saying the company didn’t do enough to crack down on hoax stories that were being shared. Some said those stories could have helped swing the election to President Trump.

{mosads}Since the election, Facebook has taken new steps to remove fake stories, including allowing users to tag or report such content.

Zuckerberg said Facebook had been hurt by the growth of fake news..

“We are also victims of this and we do not want it on our service,” he said. “We don’t want any of it.”

But he noted that the company needs to walk a fine line between removing stories that are incorrect or false, and those which just share opinions that some users disagree with.

“It’s not always clear what is fake and what isn’t,” said Zuckerberg. “A lot of what people are calling fake news are just opinions that people disagree with.”

Facebook users can now mark stories as “disputed” when they believe they are hoaxes. Those stories are then reviews by third-party fact checkers. Some on the fight though have criticized the system, saying the fact checkers are biased against stories with a conservative slant.