Facebook hit by election interference content ’10 years before Zuckerberg acknowledged it’

Published

3 years ago

November 19, 2022

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Facebook was encountering election interference content as far back as 2006, some 10 years before Mark Zuckerberg first acknowledged the issue, the platform’s former head of global public policy has claimed.

Speaking at Sky News’ Big Ideas Live event, where experts and industry leaders discussed the biggest science and technology issues of our times, Paul Kelly said staff had to deal with it “all the time”.

“We saw the initial aspects of misinformation campaigns being built around elections as early as 2006 and in 2008,” Mr Kelly revealed at a panel on the future of big tech companies.

Missed Big Ideas Live? Follow it as it happened

“We actually did a number of projects to try to increase civic engagement on the platform at that time. And we certainly saw people try to use misinformation to influence elections early on at that phase.”

Facebook founder Zuckerberg admitted in 2017 that he should have taken concerns about fake news leading up to the 2016 presidential election, when Donald Trump won the race to the White House, more seriously.

He had dismissed the notion as “crazy”, but then wrote in a public post in September 2017: “Calling that crazy was dismissive and I regret it.

“This is too important an issue to be dismissive.”

Mr Kelly was responding to an audience member’s question about the link between social media and increased divisiveness in US politics and elsewhere.

Challenged by Sky News’ technology correspondent Rowland Manthorpe about the gap between Facebook tackling misinformation and Zuckerberg acknowledging the issue, Mr Kelly said “the scale changed”.

“I had left by then,” he stressed.

“But we definitely had seen some attempts at electoral misinformation in the earlier races.”

A spokesperson for Facebook’s parent company Meta said it had “developed a comprehensive approach to how elections play out on our platform” – “reflecting years of work” and “billions of dollars in investments”.

They added that they had “dedicated teams working on elections”, including this month’s US midterms.

“Meta has hundreds of people working across more than 40 teams to combat election and voter interference, fight misinformation and find and remove violating content and accounts,” they said.

“We’ve also developed stronger policies to stop claims of delegitimisation or fraud on our services.”

US

Elon Musk says he’s created his own political party – the ‘America Party’

Published

5 hours ago

July 5, 2025

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Elon Musk says he's created his own political party - the 'America Party'

Elon Musk says he has created a new political party – the America Party –
after asking his followers if he should do so in an online poll.

It follows his public falling out with Republican President Donald Trump.

On Friday, the billionaire had asked his followers on X whether a new US political party should be created.

On Saturday evening he wrote on the same platform: “By a factor of 2 to 1, you want a new political party and you shall have it!

“When it comes to bankrupting our country with waste & graft, we live in a one-party system, not a democracy.

“Today, the America Party is formed to give you back your freedom.”

The world’s richest man made the announcement just one day after President Trump signed a tax-cut and spending bill into law on Friday, which Musk had fiercely opposed.

Musk had previously said we would form and fund a new political party to unseat lawmakers who supported the bill.

From bromance to bust-up

The Tesla boss backed Trump’s election campaign with more than a quarter of a billion dollars, later rewarded with a high profile role running the newly created department of government efficiency (DOGE).

But observers of the two men, both with huge wealth and reputations, wondered how long the bromance would last.

In May Musk left the role, still on good terms with Trump but criticising key parts of his legislative agenda.

After that, the attacks ramped up, with Musk slamming the sweeping tax and spending bill as a “disgusting abomination” and Trump hitting back in a barbed tit-for-tat.

Trump earlier this week threatened to cut off the billion-dollar federal subsidies that flow to Musk’s companies, and said he would even consider deporting him.

US

Is this the most powerful Trump’s been?

Published

10 hours ago

July 5, 2025

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👉 Follow Trump100 on your podcast app 👈

Donald Trump’s ‘big, beautiful bill’ has passed and he’s due to sign it into law on Independence Day. Mark Stone and David Blevins discuss how the bill will supercharge his presidency, despite its critics.

They also chat Gaza and Ukraine, as Donald Trump meets with freed Israeli-American hostage Edan Alexander and talks to Vladimir Putin.

If you’ve got a question you’d like the Trump100 team to answer, you can email it to trump100@sky.uk.

You can also watch all episodes on our YouTube channel.

US

At least 13 people confirmed dead and more than 20 missing from girls camp in Texas flooding

Published

1 day ago

July 4, 2025

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At least 13 people confirmed dead and more than 20 missing from girls camp in Texas flooding

13 people have been killed in the US state of Texas after heavy rain caused flash flooding, according to local media reports.

Officials have also said more than 20 are missing from a girls’ camp in Texas.

As much as 10 inches (25 centimetres) of heavy rain fell in just a few hours overnight in central Kerr County, causing flash flooding of the Guadalupe River.

Judge Rob Kelly, the chief elected official in the county, confirmed fatalities from the flooding and dozens of water rescues so far.

A flood watch issued on Thursday afternoon estimated isolated amounts up to seven inches (17 centimetres) of rising water.

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