Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg says the idea that Facebook influenced the outcome of the U.S. election is a “crazy idea.” During an interview Thursday with “The Facebook Effect” author David Kirkpatrick, Zuckerberg responded to criticisms that Facebook helped spread misinformation by allowing for the sharing and re-sharing of fake news stories.
“I think the idea that fake news on Facebook — of which it’s a very small amount of the content — influenced the election in any way is a pretty crazy idea,” he said, adding, “there have been hoaxes on the internet before… We do our best to make it so that people can report that, and as I said before, we can show people the most meaningful content we can.”
Zuckerberg says the idea that people voted the way they did because they saw a fake news story shows a lack of understanding for people who voted for Donald Trump.
“Part of what I think is going on here is people are trying to understand the results of the election,” Zuckerberg said. “I think there is a certain profound lack of empathy in asserting that the only reason why someone could have voted the way they did is because they saw some fake news.”