Facebook fact-check: all the fake news, from the Obamas to miracle cannabis

Reporter Alan Yuhas highlights the bogus stories, clickbait and disinformation framed as trending 'news' by one of the world's most powerful companies

Last month Facebook announced it would join a coalition with Twitter and more than 20 news organizations to tamp down on the proliferation of fake news on the social network. Since that announcement, conspiracy theories and explicitly fake news have continued to slip past Facebook's algorithm.

The company did, however, confront a September 11 conspiracy theory post that it had circulated around the anniversary of the attack. It took down the entire trending topic - including on the anniversary itself - rather than selectively edit out the false stories. Adam Mosseri, the company's News Feed product vice-president, insisted earlier this month that Facebook is not a publisher or media company.