FB doesn’t verify political advts, says Zuckerberg

San Francisco, October 18 

A defiant Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg has stressed that his platform has now become a ‘Fifth Estate’ in the world alongside traditional news media and people no longer have to rely on traditional gatekeepers in politics or media to make their voices heard.

Delivering a speech at Georgetown University, he said social media platforms have decentralised power by putting it directly into people’s hands. “People having the power to express themselves at scale is a new kind of force in the world — a Fifth Estate alongside the other power structures of society,” said Zuckerberg, apparently challenging those who wish to break up Facebook.

“We don’t fact-check political ads. We don’t do this to help politicians, but because we think people should be able to see for themselves what politicians are saying. If content is newsworthy, we also won’t take it down even if it would otherwise conflict with many of our standards.” — IANS