Reported today on The Guardian Technology For the full article visit:
Defiant Mark Zuckerberg defends Facebook policy to allow false ads
Zuckerberg says 'people should be able to judge for themselves the character of politicians' and compares alternative to censorship
Facebook chief executive Mark Zuckerberg has defended the company's decision to not take down political advertising that contains false information – and compared the alternative to censorship.
Challenged on CBS over the policy, which has raised concerns over misinformation campaigns that could distort elections, Zuckerberg refused to commit to any changes.
"What I believe is that in a democracy, it's really important that people can see for themselves what politicians are saying, so they can make their own judgments," he said.
"And, you know, I don't think that a private company should be censoring politicians or news."
Gayle King, co-host of CBS This Morning, pointed out that 200 Facebook employees wrote a letter asking Zuckerberg to reconsider as "free speech and paid speech are not the same".
The Facebook co-founder was unmoved.
"Well, this is a clearly a very complex issue, and a lot of people have a lot of different opinions," he said. "At the end of the day, I just think that in a democracy, people should be able to see for themselves what politicians are saying."
He added: "I think that people should be able to judge for themselves the character of politicians."
Zuckerberg has come under criticism from lawmakers including New York Democrat Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez who have warned that the 2020 presidential election will be influenced by paid-for false claims spread by the social media platform.
Similar fears have played out in the UK ahead of its general election this month. Facebook removed an ad by the Conservatives t
0 Comments