Fake news on FB didn't influence election, Zuckerberg says
Mark Zuckerberg: The idea that fake news influenced the election is 'crazy'
Quote:
If you've found yourself blaming social media for electing Donald Trump, you're wrong.
So says Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg, who was emphatic that his company was not responsible for influencing people's votes.
Fake news stories went viral about both candidates -- although there were far more lies about Hillary Clinton -- and the platform seemed to do to little to filter out inaccurate content. Now, people are wondering how much impact that content had on the outcome of the presidential election.
"Personally, I think the idea that fake news on Facebook -- of which it's a small amount of content -- influenced the election in any way is a pretty crazy idea," Zuckerberg said at the Techonomy conference Thursday.
But he didn't just try to absolve Facebook-- he encouraged anyone criticizing the company to do some soul searching of their own.
"I do think there is a profound lack of empathy in asserting that the only reason someone could've voted the way they did is fake news."
He must not know American conservatives here in the Bible Belt. All they share is fake news. They're also extremely uneducated and known nothing about the constitution.
People who rely on facebook and twitter for news are idiots. Most of the viral news there are either sensationalized or fake.
I felt like it was really common this year... it spreads like wildfire and when you try to confront them with the facts, they just throw more garbage at you.
