Facebook shareholders demand report on fake news threat to Politics

The Real Problem Behind the Fake News harming our politics

Shareholders have advocated that Facebook Inc. prepare a report on the threat fake news spread on the social media poses to politics and free speech,
According to a proxy filing made on Friday, which its board of directors have recommended a vote against, the shareholders also want the report to look into the dangers fake news may cause to the company itself.
The suggestion, which recommends the company review the issue broadly, said Facebook had provided a financial mechanism supporting false content on the internet.
It was reported on Saturday, that it also includes the extent to which it blocks fake posts, how its strategies impact free speech and how it assess claims in posts.

According to the proposal, “Facebook is highly unprotected, as fake news promoters are spamming their way to visibility for fake news through systematically gaming Facebook’s algorithms and publishing platform.”

It added that, “In light of the societal crisis generated by the explosion of fake news and related hate speech, failure to effectively manage this issue creates public policy danger.”
The U.S. presidential election of 2016 brought the fake news issue to the radar, as many incorrect posts were widely shared on Facebook and other social media services.
The social platform, however, said it was resolving the problem.

On Thursday, more than 30,000 accounts were suspended in France, ahead of the country’s presidential election.
Similarly, the media platform already has a program in France to use outside fact-checkers to combat fake news in users’ feeds.

In the meantime, shareholders also suggest a gender pay equality report be prepared by December, with recommendations that the company reveal the percentage pay gap between male and female employees across race and ethnicity and the policies taken to address the gap.
furthermore, they want the media platform to state the technique used to take those measures as well as targets that could be set to close up the gap.