We are very happy that you gentlemen are here because it seems like, as we've said before, all roads lead back to Facebook and Google. That's something that we heard from our previous witnesses and throughout the testimony of our study.
There's no question that Facebook, although it doesn't characterize itself as a media company, is certainly the world's largest content aggregator. I don't know what the numbers are in Canada when you talked about newsfeeds in your presentation, but I suspect they're not much different from the States. About 44% read or watch the news on Facebook. When you look at ad revenue, Facebook had, I think, $7 billion in ad revenue in the third quarter alone this year, which is up some $3 billion year over year from last year. It is huge, and as you said, the newsfeed is very powerful, and with great power comes great responsibility.
As you described newsfeeds and your ability to choose viewpoints that you're comfortable with or attracted to, I'm just wondering how myopic that becomes. There are a lot of people worried right now.
I was reading an article in Fortune magazine saying there are no editors, of course, to encourage alternative viewpoints. Fortune said in this dire analysis that the traditional media withers and political discourse becomes ever more insular at a frightfully accelerating speed. It used the example that, by the time a fabricated story about the Pope endorsing president-elect Donald Trump was proven bogus, it had been shared a million times.
There is great responsibility that comes with that. I know your CEO and president has insisted that the site did not have any influence on the election, but apparently that has provoked a fierce debate within your company. I'm just wondering about that moral responsibility of alternative viewpoints and how perhaps that may affect your newsfeeds in the future.