Facebook Seeing Some Backlash

Fake news has been a trending topic of conversation ever since the most recent controversial 2016 Presidential Election. Many have accused this social media giant of being a breeding ground for fake news that could be harmful to the public. The misinformation that has been circulating around many social media platforms has a lot to do with the fact that the internet itself is deregulated, meaning there is no body in charge of deciding what can or cannot be online. Some critics also pointed to Russian ‘bots’ infiltrating our social media platforms. Though Facebook has its own privacy policy and content regulation body, many people argue that fake news is all too prevalent on the site. Could this be the cause of the recent decrease in user engagement?

Facebook released some troubling metrics Wednesday, showing that their user engagement appears to have reversed course and user growth has paused. But, Facebook isn’t the only social networking site that could be in trouble in light of the news. The social media industry in general has had to rehydrate after the fake news wave hit. CEO Mark Zuckerberg recently promised to steer the company toward refocusing the user experience once more.

It’s not all bad news for Facebook, though. Ad revenue has increased, and perhaps that’s why there hasn’t been much of a panic. Zuckerberg also highlighted that the recent shift away from news towards the user experience with friends and family didn’t produce positive results. This shift towards meaningful interactions caused a decline in users that has been drastic, a loss of nearly 700,000 active users per day, that is. Is the damage caused by fake news already done? Critics would argue that yes, it has already taken its tole on social media sites, Facebook in particular. Zuckerberg’s slow response to the issue seems to have slowed down Facebook popularity for the time being.