Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg addressed claims that fake news on Facebook has influenced the people's decision during the US election.
Previously, Mark Zuckerberg asserted almost all information on Facebook is accurate, denying accusations that hoax news on the social media platform has something to do with the outcome of the election.
"Of all the content on Facebook, more than 99 per cent of what people see is authentic. Only a very small amount is fake news and hoaxes," the Facebook CEO said as per ABC.
However, a professor from the Griffith University doubted Zuckerberg's figures stating that "there is an enormous amount of misinformation on Facebook and other social media," Mark Pearson said.
Pearson pointed out there were fake news about then-presidential candidates Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton during the election, which he said played a big factor in the decision-making of the Americans.
Another critic said some of the fake news on Facebook was intended to entice people to vote for a certain candidate by degrading the other one. "Some put it out on the internet as a form of persuasive communication, to try to sway or sow seeds of doubt in people's mind about the character of an individual, or group," Dr. Daniel Angus said.
Despite claims, Sandberg said Facebook is working to trace these false reports on the social media platform.
"We take that responsibility really seriously. And we're looking at things, like working with third parties, helping to label false news, doing the things we can do to make it clearer what's a hoax on Facebook." the COO said in an interview with Today.
Sandberg continued, "We've been working on this for a long time, and we've taken important steps, but there's a lot more to do," adding that they are aware that people do not want to see false reports on Facebook.
"And so we're working on it because misinformation is something we take seriously and something we're going to continue to iterate on the service," she added.
