The Facebook founder talks about "two of the most
discussed concerns of this past year" - filter bubbles and fake news.
Mark Zuckerberg has posted a 6,500-word letter on his
Facebook page, outlining his plan to "come together to build a global community
that works for everyone".
The 32-year-old tech billionaire asks the question:
"Are we building the world we all want?"
He goes on to discuss his concern over the spread of
fake news.
However, rather than "banning misinformation",
the site's new approach will be "on surfacing additional perspectives and
information".
Last year, Facebook came under fire amid accusations
that fake stories on the social network helped Donald Trump win the US
presidential election.
At the time, Mr Zuckerberg called the claims
"crazy" and rejected the idea that Facebook users existed in
"bubbles" where they only see news which reflects their viewpoints.
However, now the Facebook chief admits that the company
has "work to do" in order to combat the "misinformation and even
outright hoax" shared on the site.
Despite what he called the "positive force" of
the voice social media gives to everyone, he admitted it could also
"fragment our shared sense of reality".
He also listed five specific areas Facebook will focus
on to develop "the social infrastructure for community": support,
safety, information, civic engagement and inclusion of all.
He said: "It is our responsibility to amplify the
good effects and mitigate the bad - to continue increasing diversity while
strengthening our common understanding so our community can create the greatest
positive impact on the world.
"The two most discussed concerns this past year
were about diversity of viewpoints we see (filter bubbles) and accuracy of
information (fake news).
"I worry about these and we have studied them
extensively, but I also worry there are even more powerful effects we must
mitigate around sensationalism and polarisation, leading to a loss of common
understanding."
In December, Mr Zuckerberg admitted Facebook was a media
company, after years of claiming it was simply a technology platform.
His comments come as President Donald Trump launched an
unprecedented hour-long attack on mainstream US media for disseminating fake
news.
The post by Mr Zuckerberg - who has more than 86 million
followers - has been liked more than 52 thousand times in less than 12 hours.
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