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Sandberg: Facebook Doesn’t Want to Be the ‘Arbiter of the Truth’

Socia-media giant doesn’t see itself as a publisher, says COO.

Sheryl Sandberg, feminist author and chief operating officer of Facebook, says the social-media giant doesn’t see itself as a publisher or an “arbiter of the truth.” The social-networking site has come under fire in recent months for not appropriately fighting “fake news” articles published on its pages. “We are really a platform and we take our responsibilities on false news very seriously. False news hurts everyone because it makes our community uninformed, it hurts our community, it hurts countries. And we know that people want to see accurate news on Facebook and that’s what we want them to see,” Sandberg told the BBC in an interview expected to be broadcast Monday. She added, “I don’t think we have to be the publisher and we definitely don’t want to be the arbiter of the truth. We don’t think that’s appropriate for us. We think everyone needs to do their part. Newsrooms have to do their part, [as do] media companies, classrooms and technology companies.”