In an interview with the BBC, Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg said that “fake news, polarised views and “filter bubbles” were damaging “common understanding”.

“He said people had been left behind by global growth, sparking demands to “withdraw” from the “connected world”.

“In a call to action, he said people must not “sit around and be upset”, but act to build “social infrastructures”.

“”When I started Facebook, the mission of connecting the world was not controversial,” he (said).

“”It was as if it was a default assumption that people had; every year the world got more connected and that seems like the direction things were heading in.

“”Now that vision is becoming more controversial.””

“If you are upset about the direction things are going in, I hope you don’t just sit around and be upset, but you feel urgent about building the long term infrastructure that needs to get built,” he added.

Zuckerberg also told the BBC, “A lot of today’s biggest opportunities will come from bringing people together – whether that is spreading prosperity or freedom, or accelerating science, or promoting peace and understanding.”