Facebook admits huge scale of fake news and election interference
Company deletes 2.8bn fake accounts as it pours resources into protecting EU elections
Less than three years ago, the Facebook CEO, Mark Zuckerberg, dismissed as “crazy” the idea that fake news on his platform could have influenced the election of Donald Trump as US president.
Today the company admits it is under siege from billions of fake accounts trying to game its systems to win elections, make money or influence people in other ways, and battling a tsunami of fake news, disinformation and hate speech.