No special treatment for Trump – FB
Zuckerberg explains to employees his perceived closeness with the US President
Mark Zuckerberg has flatly denied in an interview with Axios the criticisms that Facebook is being lenient on United States President Donald Trump while Twitter had censured the latter’s race-polarizing comments.
The FB founder said there is no closed-door agreement between the platform and Trump.
“I’ve heard this speculation, too, so let me be clear: There’s no deal of any kind,” Zuckerberg said. “Actually, the whole idea of a deal is pretty ridiculous.”
Zuckerberg has been seen as close to Trump. In October, he was roundly criticized for attending a hush-hush dinner at the White House with the President and FB board member Peter Thiel, a known Trump ally.
“I accepted the invite for dinner because I was in town and he is the President of the United States,” Zuckerberg said, adding that he also dined in the past with Trump’s predecessor Barack Obama.
“The fact that I met with a head of state should not be surprising, and does not suggest we have some kind of deal,” he said.
In a bull session with FB employees, Zuckerberg felt compelled to defend his relationship with Trump. He said FB is not being soft on the US President but is only “giving people some space for discourse.”
Over a hundred companies worldwide had pulled out their advertisements on FB for its seeming lack of effort to police users for racist and violence-fomenting posts.
One group, Accountable Tech, had written Facebook’s Oversight Board members to demand action on questionable posts.
“All of you were selected to serve on this Board because of your outspoken commitment to free expression, human rights, and democratic values,” the group said.
“Now is the time to uphold those principles. We humbly ask that you refuse to be complicit in this Facebook charade — that you demand sweeping