Facebook users were much more engaged with fake election news than real news before the election

A sign on the Facebook campus.
(Image credit: Josh Edelson/AFP/Getty Images)

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg may be right that it's "extremely unlikely" fake news and hoax news on his social network affected the results of the U.S. presidential election, but it also appears true that, as some Facebook employees attest, Facebook has a fake-news problem. During the crucial final three months of the election, the top 20 fake election articles on Facebook generated more engagement — shares, likes, comments — than the 20 best-performing election articles from legitimate news sites, according to a BuzzFeed analysis.

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Peter Weber, The Week US

Peter has worked as a news and culture writer and editor at The Week since the site's launch in 2008. He covers politics, world affairs, religion and cultural currents. His journalism career began as a copy editor at a financial newswire and has included editorial positions at The New York Times Magazine, Facts on File, and Oregon State University.