Hillary Clinton says Facebook must 'prevent fake news from creating a new reality'

Hillary Clinton is not happy about fake news on Facebook.
 By 
Karissa Bell
 on 
Hillary Clinton says Facebook must 'prevent fake news from creating a new reality'
Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton speaks during the Women in the World Summit at Lincoln Center in New York Women in the World Summit. Credit: AP/REX/Shutterstock

Hillary Clinton is not happy about fake news on Facebook.

Speaking at Recode's Code conference Wednesday, the former secretary of state had some strong words about the role fake news on Facebook played in the election, saying the social network must do more to combat it.

"They've got to get back to trying to curate it more effectively, they've got to help prevent fake news from creating a new reality," she said.

"If you look at Facebook, the vast majority of the 'news items' posted were fake," she said. "They were connected to, as we now know, the 1,000 Russian agents who were involved in delivering those messages, they were connected to the bots that are just out of control."

Facebook wasn't the only social network she called out--she also noted the problem of bots on Twitter, pointing to recent stories about the influx of fake followers on Trump's Twitter's account.

She added that she doesn't blame the social media users who helped spread some of the fake news.

"It was such a new experience, I understand why people on their Facebook pages would think, 'Oh Hillary Clinton did that, I did not know that, well, that's going to affect my opinion about her.'"

Facebook has rolled out several new features since the election in an effort to curb fake and misleading news on its platform. The company has tweaked its News Feed algorithm, introduced educational tools, and started working with third-party fact-checking organizations, though the changes have done little to quiet critics.

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Karissa Bell

Karissa was Mashable's Senior Tech Reporter, and is based in San Francisco. She covers social media platforms, Silicon Valley, and the many ways technology is changing our lives. Her work has also appeared in Wired, Macworld, Popular Mechanics, and The Wirecutter. In her free time, she enjoys snowboarding and watching too many cat videos on Instagram. Follow her on Twitter @karissabe.

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