Facebook is taking steps to tackle misinformation, hoaxes: Zuckerberg

Facebook has taken steps to tackle spam and clickbait, and now the company is preparing to deal with misinformation and hoaxes in the same way, CEO Mark Zuckerberg said.

The widely-popular social-networking platform has long been under fire over complaints that it hasn't taken sufficient steps to stem the rise of misinformation and false news stories across its network.

During a conference call with investors on Wednesday, Zuckerberg said, "In the past we've taken steps to reduce spam and clickbait, and now we're approaching misinformation and hoaxes the same way."

He pointed to Facebook's closer ties to several publishers as well as fact-checking organizations in addition to the high priority the company had placed on making alterations to its news feed and ad network.

The conference call was organized to share the company's quarterly results with investors. Facebook announced that its revenue totaled $8.8 billion in the three months through Dec. 31, 2016, up 51 per cent from 5.8 billion in the year-ago period. Total profit for the quarter jumped a whopping 128 per cent, from $1.56 billion or 54 cents a share in the final quarter of 2015 to $3.57 billion or $1.21 a share in the same quarter of 2015.

Facebook is the world's biggest social-networking platform, with as many as 1.86 billion people using the service regularly.