Beyond 'fake news': Facebook fights 'information operations'

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AP New York
Last Updated : Apr 28 2017 | 10:28 PM IST
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 US 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 yesterday, 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.

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First Published: Apr 28 2017 | 10:28 PM IST

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