by LUCAS NOLAN
Former President Obama reportedly met with Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg after the 2016 election to advise the tech billionaire on how to deal with fake news on the Facebook platform.
The Washington Post reports that former President Barack Obama met with Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerburg to discuss the issue of fake news on Facebook’s platform, with Obama urging Zuckerburg to take a more serious stance on the issue. Zuckerberg has previously dismissed the idea that fake news affected the 2016 election as “crazy,” but Obama didn’t seem to agree and held a private meeting with the tech CEO at a meeting of world leaders in Lima, Peru, on November 19, just two months before President Trump’s inauguration.
Zuckerberg reportedly told Obama that he acknowledged the threat that fake news and disinformation present, especially during election cycles, but that disinformation wasn’t widespread on Facebook and dealing with the problem was easier said than done. Obama reportedly changed Zuckerberg’s mind, convincing him that what took place during the 2016 election was “a coordinated assault on a U.S. election by a shadowy foreign force that exploited the social network he created,” according to the Washington Post. full story
