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Facebook knows it needs to stop bad stuff before it happens

The social media giant's head of Messenger, David Marcus, said the company realizes it needs to scrutinize how people use its platform, both for good and for bad.

Ian Sherr Contributor and Former Editor at Large / News
Ian Sherr (he/him/his) grew up in the San Francisco Bay Area, so he's always had a connection to the tech world. As an editor at large at CNET, he wrote about Apple, Microsoft, VR, video games and internet troubles. Aside from writing, he tinkers with tech at home, is a longtime fencer -- the kind with swords -- and began woodworking during the pandemic.
Richard Nieva Former senior reporter
Richard Nieva was a senior reporter for CNET News, focusing on Google and Yahoo. He previously worked for PandoDaily and Fortune Magazine, and his writing has appeared in The New York Times, on CNNMoney.com and on CJR.org.
Ian Sherr
Richard Nieva
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David Marcus, Facebook's head of Messenger, seen here talking at the company's F8 developer conference earlier this year.

Nikki Ritcher for The Wall Street Journal

Facebook isn't going to get caught flatfooted again. 

The company's head of Messenger, David Marcus, said the company realizes it needs to more closely scrutinize how people use the apps and services it builds.

"Now that we know we have a lot of actors that are trying to do things, we need to continue to be more thoughtful the way we build new product and experiences and try to overthink how they can be used," he said, speaking at a Wall Street Journal conference. 

The comments mark the latest effort by the social networking giant to publicly come to terms with its roll in the Russian government's alleged meddling in the 2016 election. 

Initially, Mark Zuckerberg , Facebook's cofounder and CEO, said the idea was "crazy." He's since not only acknowledged Facebook's role, but begun working with investigators and changing the company's policies to avoid it happening in the future.