Facebook's problem is more complicated than fake news

These two factors – the way that anger can spread over Facebook’s social networks, and how those networks can make individuals’ political identity more central to who they are – likely explain Facebook users’ inaccurate beliefs more effectively than the so-called filter bubble. If this is true, then we have a serious challenge ahead of us. Facebook will likely be convinced to change its filtering algorithm to prioritize more accurate information. Google has already undertaken a similar endeavor. And recent reports suggest that Facebook may be taking the problem more seriously than Zuckerberg’s comments suggest. But this does nothing to address the underlying forces that propagate and reinforce false information: emotions and the people in your social networks. Nor is it obvious that these characteristics of Facebook can or should be “corrected.” A social network devoid of emotion seems like a contradiction, and policing who individuals interact with is not something that our society should embrace.