Clinton says false stories on Facebook helped Trump win election

RANCHO PALOS VERDES, Calif. (Reuters) - Hillary Clinton on Wednesday said hoaxes and false news stories on Facebook contributed to her loss in last year's U.S. presidential election, adding to a list of factors she blames for her defeat.

The former Democratic candidate said earlier this month that interference by Russian hackers and then-FBI director James Comey helped tip the election to Republican President Donald Trump.

Speaking at a technology conference near Los Angeles, Clinton on Wednesday mentioned Facebook by name and said that fake stories spread on the social network influenced the information that people relied on.

"The other side was using content that was just flat-out false and delivering it in a very personalized way, both sort of above the radar screen and below," Clinton said during an on-stage interview at the Code conference.

A representative for Facebook could not immediately be reached for comment.

Facebook Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg said just after the November election that it was "crazy" to think that fake news on the site had influenced the election in any way.

In December, though, Facebook said it would introduce tools to prevent fake news stories from spreading. It also said it would work with organizations such as fact-checking website Snopes and ABC News to check the authenticity of stories.

(Reporting by David Ingram; Editing by Andrew Hay)