The social media giant Facebook was accused by the US President Barack Obama of not being able or not wanting to put a stop to such misinformation. Mark Zuckerberg, CEO of the company, rejected the criticism and said it was a “crazy idea” that such things may have influence voters.
Barack Obama Slams Facebook Once Again Over Fake News
The US President Barack Obama criticised the social media giant Facebook for spreading the fake news that favored the Donald Trump. Here’s what the US President Barack Obama quoted The Verge as saying “In an age where there’s so much active misinformation and it’s packaged very well and it looks the same when you see it on a Facebook page or you turn on your television,”.
The US President Barack Obama further also added that “If everything seems to be the same and no distinctions are made, then we won’t know what to protect”.
However, the American private Internet media company based in New York City well-known as Buzzfeed who describes itself as a “social news and entertainment company” found that top-performing fake news performed much better on the social network Facebook than the actual stories shared by the popular media websites during the US presidential election campaign.
Hence, the authorities have accused the social media giant Facebook for turning the US-presidential election campaign in favor of President-elect Donald Trump simply by spreading the fake news and stories regarding the political affairs.
The CEO of the social media giant Facebook, Mark Zuckerberg had refused that the social media giant Facebook played a role in spreading the fake news and stories titled this idea “crazy idea”. To lessen the criticism, the social media giant Facebook decided to ban all websites that posts fake news and stories from using its advertising network to make money.
Moreover, the US President Barack Obama told to the New Yorker editor, David Remnick that “The capacity to disseminate misinformation, wild conspiracy theories, to paint the opposition in wildly negative light without any rebuttal, that has accelerated in ways that much more sharply polarise the electorate and make it very difficult to have a common conversation”.