Facebook has tapped Alex Hardiman, former vice president of news products at The New York Times, to lead its fight against "fake news."
Hardiman, who was with the Times for a decade, has been leading efforts with the Facebook Pages team for the past several months, and will be leading the company’s news products division in June, according to United Press International.
Facebook's News products division is supposed to stop the spread of fake news, basicaly an editorial function, and provide publishers with assistance in bringing in more money, an advertising function.
Hardiman announced on Facebook that she and her colleagues "will work collaboratively with news organizations across the spectrum to build new storytelling formats, local news communities, monetization options, and more."
Hardiman is taking on the new responsibility for sentimental reasons, according to Tech Crunch.
"Taking this role is a deeply personal decision for me. My great-grandmother was a radio and television pioneer in the Midwest and spent her life providing Americans with access to high quality news," she said. "My grandfather spent his career as a broadcast journalist tackling racial discrimination and social injustice."
This all comes after the spread of fake news during the 2016 presidential election, Tech Crunch noted.
Facebook and other social media companies were criticized for not putting in enough effort to fighting fake news, which many believe had an impact on the election results, UPI noted.
Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg disagreed, though, with the notion that the company had something to do with the way the election played out, calling the idea "pretty crazy."
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