Facebook 'very serious' about its role, says top official

New Delhi : In the wake of rampant false news campaigns and the recently exposed breaches in Facebooks data privacy, a top official of the company has said that the social media giant is preparing for a tough task ahead to become a watchdog of what news is shared on it.

"Facebook," Campbell Brown, the head of the company's global news partnerships, said, is "very serious" about how it addresses the rising impact the medium has on elections, people's safety and privacy.

Brown maintained that Facebook's primary focus remained on being a space for "free speech" and social interaction.

Brown was participating in a session "Facebook's Journey with News Publishers" at The Media Rumble, a two day media-forum held across several venues at the India Habitat Centre here.

She highlighted Facebook's role in modern-day news dissemination and explained how it affects India in particular. Brown also stressed on the need to verify all content through user surveys and by partnering with fact-checking organisations.

Issues such as licensing, policy, credibility and censorship in the context of the media industry were extensively discussed and debated at several sessions during the two-day forum.