Facebook has been hard at work scrubbing their platform of fake news in an effort to create an environment where their users feel as though they can trust the news stories that pop up on their news feed. Donald Trump took to Twitter recently to question whether CNN was part of the fake news purge Facebook was currently working on.
“Facebook has just stated that they are setting up a system to ‘purge’ themselves of Fake News. Does that mean CNN will finally be put out of business?” the president penned in his latest tweet.
While the tweet was published less than an hour ago, it didn’t take long for Trump’s 55.3 million Twitter followers to react. In a little more than half an hour, his followers had re-tweeted the post over 10,000 times, liked it over 35,000 times, and left over 8,000 comments.
Comments quickly poured in with individuals taking cracks at Fox and Trump.
“What about your favorite Fox News? Will they stop being biased and only in favor or you or will they do more than Just report Fake News?” one individual questioned.
“Don’t be surprised if the White House Facebook page suddenly disappears,” a second chimed in.
“It means YOU will finally be put out of business. Everything you say and do is fake and a lie,” a third said.
Trump: Does Facebook Fake News Filter Mean CNN Will Go Out Of Business? https://t.co/wuCtHZuhce pic.twitter.com/bsVOs2slL6
— Daily Caller (@DailyCaller) October 21, 2018
As those who follow Trump know, taking cracks at CNN – as well as a number of other networks and news outlets – isn’t exactly new for the president.
As The Guardian reminds us, Trump attacked both CNN and Buzzfeed as “fake news” after publishing a story claiming there was a connection between the president and Russia. During a press conference, Trump shut down a CNN reporter and refused to answer any of his questions.
Trump Cracks Terrible Joke About Facebook Combatting Fake News: Will CNN Go Bust? https://t.co/bqBQO1avSx pic.twitter.com/ok7iBqJN89
— Mediaite (@Mediaite) October 21, 2018
“I’m not going to give you a question. You are fake news,” Donald said as he explained his reasoning for not allowing the reporter to ask a question.
According to the Washington Post , Facebook announced earlier this month that they had already purged 800 accounts and pages they deemed to be spamming the platform with fake news.
During the purge some legitimate political activists were taken out of commission, including Chris Metcalf who told the Washington Post that he would be happy to follow Facebook’s rules regarding what he can and cannot publish if he just understood exactly what the rules were.
Facebook has just stated that they are setting up a system to “purge” themselves of Fake News. Does that mean CNN will finally be put out of business?
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 21, 2018
“I am a legitimate political activist. I don’t have a clickbait blog. I don’t have a fake news website. And I haven’t been doing anything that all the other pages in this space aren’t doing,” Metcalf explained.
