Mark Zuckerberg asks for forgiveness and admits Facebook has been used to 'divide people'

'I will try to be better'

Facebook Founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg speaks on stage during the annual Facebook F8 developers conference in San Jose, California, U.S., April 18, 2017 (Reuters)

Mark Zuckerberg has asked for forgiveness after admitting that his work has been used to “divide people”.

He posted an apology to his Facebook page over the weekend, and has pledged to “be better”.

Mr Zuckerberg has been heavily criticised over recent months, over the social network’s role in the 2016 US Presidential election.

Facebook has admitted it sold $100,000 worth of political adverts, designed to create divisions, to fake accounts likely operated from Russia.

Mr Zuckerberg initially said it was “crazy” to think that misinformation spread on Facebook influenced the outcome of the election, but he has now changed that view.

“Tonight concludes Yom Kippur, the holiest day of the year for Jews when we reflect on the past year and ask forgiveness for our mistakes,” he wrote on Saturday.

“For those I hurt this year, I ask forgiveness and I will try to be better. For the ways my work was used to divide people rather than bring us together, I ask forgiveness and I will work to do better.”

Facebook, which has handed around 3,000 ads to congressional investigators, is overhauling the way it handles paid political advertisements.

It will allow anyone to view any political ads that run on the site, no matter whom they target, and also force political advertisers to reveal who is paying for the ads.

“After the election, I made a comment that I thought the idea misinformation on Facebook changed the outcome of the election was a crazy idea,” said Mr Zuckerberg last week.

“Calling that crazy was dismissive and I regret it. This is too important an issue to be dismissive.”