After President Donald Trump won the presidential election in November, then-President Barack Obama asked Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg to address the uptick in fake news on the social media website, the Washington Post reported Sunday night, citing unnamed people brief on the conversation.
As federal investigators and reporters dig deeper into Russia’s attempt to interfere in the 2016 presidential election, Facebook has come under scrutiny for the amount of fake news that flourished on the social platform. Reports this month revealed that a Russian troll farm spent $100,000 on Facebook ads during the 2016 election and that a Russian-linked Facebook group promoted pro-Trump rallies.
After the 2016 election, amid concerns that Russia tried to interfere in the election, Zuckerberg said it was “crazy” to think that fake content on Facebook influenced the outcome of the 2016 race.
After those comments, on Nov. 19, Obama spoke to Zuckerberg about fake news and Facebook on the sidelines of a meeting with world leaders in Peru, according to the Washington Post. Obama told Zuckerberg that he needed to do more to address fake news and its influence on elections, per the Post.
However, Zuckerberg was resistant and told Obama that fake news was not widespread on Facebook and that it would be hard to address, according to the Washington Post.
Read the Washington Post’s full report here.
