Accessibility links

Breaking News

Beyond 'Fake News:' Facebook Fights 'Information Operations'


FILE - Conference workers speak in front of a demo booth at Facebook's annual F8 developer conference, Tuesday, April 18, 2017, in San Jose, California.
FILE - Conference workers speak in front of a demo booth at Facebook's annual F8 developer conference, Tuesday, April 18, 2017, in San Jose, California.

Facebook is acknowledging that governments or other malicious non-state actors are using its social network to sway political sentiment, including elections.

That's a long way from CEO Mark Zuckerberg's assertion in November that the idea that bogus information on Facebook influenced the U.S. presidential election was "pretty crazy." It also illustrates how the world's biggest social network has been forced to grapple with its outsized role in how the world communicates, for better or for worse.

In an online posting Thursday, the company said that it would monitor efforts to disrupt "civic discourse" on Facebook. It is also looking to identify fake accounts, and says that it will warn people if their accounts have been targeted by cyber-attackers.

XS
SM
MD
LG