Inside Facebook's war room: the battle to protect EU elections

The social media firm is deleting billions of fake accounts as it takes on a torrent of fake news, disinformation and hate speech

Less than three years ago, Facebook's chief executive, Mark Zuckerberg, dismissed as "crazy" the idea that fake news on his platform could have influenced the election of Donald Trump as US president.

Today the company admits it is under siege from billions of fake accounts trying to game its systems to win elections, make money or influence people in other ways, and battling a tsunami of fake news, disinformation and hate speech.