It's totally possible for Facebook to be even more upfront about "fake news" that appears on the social media site, but CEO Mark Zuckerberg doesn't think that's necessary.
KPIX 5 reports that "activist investors" proposed a plan for the company's Board of Directors to publish an annual report on exactly how Facebook manages fake news posts, and detail the effect those policies ultimately have.
According to Arjuna Capital's Natasha Lamb, the proposal would have required Facebook to report on, "public policy issues associated with managing fake news and associated hate speech" including how it impacts "the democratic process, free speech, and a cohesive society." Interesting, right?
When the plan came up at Thursday's annual shareholder meeting, Zuckerberg and his more than 50-percent control of the company vetoed it. The gabillionaire nerd argued that the fake news spammers don't actually care about their outrageous headlines. They're just going for clickbait and that's all about money.
"We have focused a lot on disrupting the economics for these folks. If we can make it so it's no longer profitable for them to do this, then they'll stop," explained Zuckerberg on why his super rich company doesn't need to take extra steps to combat the impacts of faux news.
"The impact of fake news is about to destroy us," said Rev. Jesse Jackson at the shareholder meeting, according to Business Insider.
In March, SFist looked at Facebook's new tag for "disputed" news, a way for users to flag fake news without using the work "fake." This service is another reason Zuck felt his investors' idea wasn't worth the effort.
After all, efforts have already been underway to help us figure out what's real and what's not.
Just last month, the Verge told us about the company's full page ads in British newspapers advising Facebook users (at least the three of them who read print) how to spot fake news. Facebook's director of policy in the UK, Simon Milner told the Financial Times, "People want to see accurate information on Facebook and so do we. That is why we are doing everything we can to tackle the problem of false news. To help people spot false news, we are showing tips to everyone ... how to identify if something they see is false."
Everything they can up to a limit. Still, Facebook executives insist that they're on this whole fake news problem. "We know false news goes against what people want on Facebook, the company's COO Cheryl Sandberg told Business Insider. "You're going to continue to see more efforts from us."
Related: Facebook Rolls Out 'Disputed' Tag For Fake News Stories, Rather Than Calling Them Fake
