Mark Zuckerberg admits Facebook played part in spread of fake news

Mark Zuckerberg says he was wrong to deny the role played by Facebook in spreading ‘fake news’ during the US election.

Change of tune

Mark Zuckerberg has admitted he was wrong to deny the role played by Facebook in spreading “fake news” during the US presidential election following an ­attack by Donald Trump.

Mr Zuckerberg posted a 393-word comment on his Facebook page in response to a tweet sent by the US President early on Wednesday that called the company “anti-Trump”.

“After the election, I made a comment that I thought the idea misinformation on Facebook changed the outcome of the election was a crazy idea,” Mr Zuckerberg wrote. “Calling that crazy was dismissive and I regret it.”

Even though Facebook is now the world’s biggest publisher, Mr Zuckerberg has been at pains to deny the online behemoth is a media company and should ­accept the same responsibilities as a publisher.

Mr Trump did not specify what prompted his claim against Facebook, although the social network is on the back foot in Washington.

It faces calls for tighter regulations to police political advertising and has agreed to turn over to Congress copies of 3000 political ads bought by Russian accounts during the US election last year. Facebook has already admitted that Russian propagandists spent at least $US100,000 on election ads, enough to reach tens of millions of voters.

“Trump says Facebook is against him,” Mr Zuckerberg wrote. “Liberals say we helped Trump. Both sides are upset about ideas and content they don’t like. That’s what running a platform for all ideas looks like.”

Earlier this week, it emerged that former president Barack Obama had berated Mr Zuckerberg for not taking the issue of Russian “fake news” seriously.

It was also revealed that the company had detected suspicious activity linked to the US election on its network by hackers con­nected with Russian military ­intelligence as early as June last year. In May 2016, Zuckerberg came under fire after it emerged that Facebook was burying politically conservative news and promoting stories that it deemed important.

Mr Zuckerberg hired Hillary Clinton’s pollster last month, heightening speculation that the is planning to move into politics.

Meanwhile, amid a barrage of fake news, publishers on both sides of the Atlantic have been ­reinvigorated by the globe-shaking news events of the election of Donald Trump and Brexit.

This week The Washington Post, owned by Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, said it had reached a digital subscriber milestone.

The one million figure puts the Post behind The Wall Street Journal, with 1.27 million paid digital subscribers, and The New York Times, which has2.3 million.