Protecting users of the social network from abuse and hate and defending it from nation state interference are part of Facebook Inc Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg’s 2018 personal challenge.

Mr Zuckerberg visited every US state, ran 365 miles and learned Mandarin since he first started doing these annual challenges in 2009.

Social media companies including Twitter have been pressured by regulators and the European Union to take more steps to remove hate speech on their platforms.
“We won’t prevent all mistakes or abuse, but we currently make too many errors enforcing our policies and preventing misuse of our tools,” Mr Zuckerberg said.

He addressed concerns over whether working on his business constitutes a personal challenge: "This may not seem like a personal challenge on its face, but I think I'll learn more by focusing intensely on these issues than I would by doing something completely separate. These issues touch on questions of history, civics, political philosophy, media, government, and of course technology. I'm looking forward to bringing groups of experts together to discuss and help work through these topics".

Facebook has faced harsh criticism over its failure to prevent Russian operatives from using its platform for meddling in the 2016 US elections.

Mr Zuckerberg has repeatedly condemned Russia’s attempts to influence the elections through Facebook posts and advertisements and pledged last year to ramp up spending to confront the problem.