It was a “crazy idea”, Mark Zuckerberg declared in the aftermath of the 2016 US presidential election, that fake news on Facebook had any influence over the result. But, within 12 months, the Facebook founder had been forced to apologise amid revelations that Russia had used the world’s largest social media platform to spread falsehoods and stir up tensions as part of a targeted election interference campaign.
Four years on Mr Zuckerberg is at pains to prove that his platform is rooting out the deluge of misinformation, voter suppression and violence-inciting content that has already begun to proliferate on its apps. It has a lot at stake. Facebook’s success, or failure, in protecting the integrity of the November 3 election may dictate how it is permitted to operate in future, with global regulators circling the technology sector.
It is walking a political tightrope domestically. The company is wary of angering President Donald Trump, who has claimed that social media platforms are biased against Republicans and has already instigated a review into the immunity granted to them for the user-generated content they publish. But, say some analysts, Facebook is also trying to appease Mr Trump's rival Joe Biden, whose Democratic party is proposing more stringent antitrust rules.