Following a difficult year Mark Zuckerberg took the opportunity at the F8 Developer Conference to lay down the Facebook's plans to tackle serious problems like fake news and data security.

During the keynote, Zuckerberg said the social network would continue to design new technology to bring people closer together, but admitted the company will mistakes that can have serious consequences for people and society.

Fake news

When it comes to fake news and protecting election integrity he largely pointed the finger at Russia for the problems it has faced.

Zuckerberg said such coordinated operations and large numbers of fake accounts was something the company was “slow to recognise”.

To combat fake news, Zuckerberg outlined three specific categories it is looking to tackle. This includes fighting typical spam from people trying to make money by removing the economic incentive for these companies to do so, and finding ‘bad actors’ (fake accounts) and taking them off the network.

He claimed that Facebook now has new AI tools that are taking down tens of thousands of fake accounts, many of which it has traced back to Russia. It also has 20,000 people responsible for monitoring content on the platform.

Facebook also aims to tackle the issue of real people sharing fake news through content flagging tools, as well as surfacing related content for users to check facts.

Clear History

Zuckerberg also touched on the issue of data privacy, an issue the social network has come under greater scrutiny for following the Cambridge Analytica scandal.

Here he said Facebook was restricting the data developers can request from people, and is also auditing apps that used the platform before a 2014 rule change that already limited access.

The company is also introducing a ‘Clear History’ tool  that lets users delete the information the social network has on them from websites and apps that used Facebook's ads and analytics tools.

Zuckerberg said he felt deleting this information would make for a poorer experience, but that it was important for users to have better control.

“Overall we’re going to keep investing heavily in security and privacy,” said Zuckerberg, though cautioning that security “isn’t a problem you ever really solve. This is an arms race.”

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