Facebook co-founder and Chief Executive Officer Mark Zuckerberg responded to President Trump’s bias accusations on Wednesday, stating that the largest social media network on the planet isn’t acting against him nor was it ever, stating that everyone at Facebook remains committed to building a platform for people holding various political stances. Mr. Zuckerberg compared President Trump’s allegations with those previously made by the political left in the United States that claims Facebook helped the Republican candidate win the 2016 election in an unfair manner, stating that the Menlo Park, California-based firm should have done more to combat the dissemination of “fake news” on its service which it believes helped Trump win the presidential race.
Mr. Zuckerberg essentially rejected both sides of the argument in a Facebook post published yesterday afternoon, saying that neither side of the political spectrum in the country is happy when it sees opposing ideas on Facebook, but noting how their very existence doesn’t imply bias on Facebook’s part of any kind. In addition to dismissing allegations that the social media giant is somehow biased toward one ideology over other, Mr. Zuckerberg said that the company’s influence on the 2016 presidential election was largely positive, claiming that approximately two million people were able to register to vote with Facebook’s help. The same address also contained what’s thought to be his first direct apology for dismissing the potential negative effects of fake news on Facebook as “pretty crazy” as part of a statement made in November 2016, with Mr. Zuckerberg saying he “regrets” making such a dismissive statement but adding that Facebook’s efforts to encourage people to vote were far more influential than any possible misinformation campaign on its network organized by a foreign entity which some political actors claim to be Russia.
Former President Obama supposedly played a significant role in convincing the fifth richest person on the planet that fake news are to be taken seriously following the 2016 presidential race, with Facebook later introducing a number of initiatives aimed at preventing their spreading and sanctioning pages and individuals identified as disseminating factually incorrect and misleading information. The company is still approaching the issue in an extremely careful manner, trying not to be accused of outright censorship and encouraging its users to think critically instead of entirely preventing them from accessing controversial content.