Facebook accidentally deletes Mark Zuckerberg’s posts on fake news controversy

Facebook accidentally deleted Mark Zuckerberg’s recent posts addressing the fact that fake news was spreading on the social media platform.

November 30, 2016: The tech giant said two of Mr Zuckerberg’s posts were briefly deleted on Tuesday but were reposted after media outlets alerted the firm they were gone.

In one statement posted on November 13 Mr Zuckerberg tried to reassure Facebook users that “99 per cent of what people see is authentic.”

He wrote: “Only a very small amount is fake news and hoaxes.”

In a second post written on November 19, Mr Zuckerberg suggested ways Facebook could crack down on the spread of misinformation.

But he warned the issue was complicated and should not be oversimplified.

He wrote: “The problems here are complex, both technically and philosophically.”

Adding:  “We do not want to be arbiters of truth ourselves, but instead rely on our community and trusted third parties.”

The mistake comes amid widespread scrutiny of fake news on social media sites following the US election.

Fake news reportedly outperformed real news on Facebook in the final weeks of the US election campaign fuelling concern that misinformation could have swayed voter opinions and possibly the election’s outcome.

A Facebook spokesperson said: “About 10 posts were removed by mistake from Mark’s timeline. This was caused by an error in one of our systems and the posts have now been restored.

“Mark’s account was not compromised, and he stands behind the words in his posts.”