James Alexander Michie | THE STAR: Trudeau to Facebook: Fix your fake news problem or face stricter regulations

OTTAWA—Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has warned social networking giant Facebook it needs to fix its “fake news” problems or face stronger regulation from Ottawa.

Trudeau told Facebook chief operating officer Sheryl Sandberg in November he was concerned the company wasn’t doing enough to stop the spread of misleading information on their platform, a source with direct knowledge of the conversation told the Star.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau chats with Sheryl Sandberg, Facebook chief operating officer during a bilateral meeting in Davos, Switzerland on Jan. 20, 2016. The pair met again in November 2017 and Trudeau warned the Facebook COO that the company could face stronger regulation in Canada. (ANDREW VAUGHAN / THE CANADIAN PRESS)

Facebook has been under intense international scrutiny for allowing so-called “fake news” — false and often outlandish information presented as legitimate journalism — to propagate on its network.

Sometimes the “articles” are simply hoaxes, designed to profit from Facebook users’ clicks.

But as seen during the 2016 U.S. presidential election, the tactic can also mislead or manipulate citizens to further political ends – whether by partisan actors domestically, or hostile nations internationally. Facebook has also faced criticism about a lack of transparency around who is buying ads on its platform.

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