Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg said that his platform shouldn’t be in the business of deciding fact from fiction in a divergence from Twitter.
Zuckerberg, during a Wednesday interview with Fox News’s Dana Perino, revealed that he doesn’t view his social media platform as having a role in fact-checking posts.
“We have a different policy, I think, than Twitter on this,” he said. “I just believe strongly that Facebook shouldn’t be the arbiter of truth of everything that people say online. I think in general, private companies probably shouldn’t be — especially these platform companies — shouldn’t be in the position of doing that.”
The issue of social media platforms alerting the validity of claims comes amid a heated confrontation between President Trump and Twitter, in which one of his tweets was recently labeled as “unsubstantiated.” After slamming Twitter’s move, the president teased an executive order “pertaining to social media,” which he is expected to unveil on Thursday.
Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey responded to Trump’s criticism in posts on his platform later Wednesday night that appeared to reference Zuckerberg’s commentary as well.
“Fact check: there is someone ultimately accountable for our actions as a company, and that’s me. Please leave our employees out of this. We’ll continue to point out incorrect or disputed information about elections globally. And we will admit to and own any mistakes we make,” he wrote. “This does not make us an ‘arbiter of truth.’ Our intention is to connect the dots of conflicting statements and show the information in dispute so people can judge for themselves. More transparency from us is critical so folks can clearly see the why behind our actions.”
Trump restarted the debate on social media censorship after Twitter placed the label on his tweet criticizing mail-in voting in California for the first time on Tuesday. The warning linked to a page with tweets and articles discussing the issue. The platform introduced the fact-checking policy as a way to reduce the spread of misinformation online.
Twitter also faced calls to delete the president’s tweets that relate to Lori Klausutis, 28, a former staffer for then-Rep. Joe Scarborough’s congressional office who died in 2001. While the medical examiner ruled her death accidental, conspiracy theories have circulated that Scarborough was involved in her death, which the president has amplified in recent weeks.
The company expressed remorse to Klausutis’s widow, who wrote a letter to Dorsey, but did not remove the tweets. Facebook told the Washington Examiner in a statement that it, too, would not remove the posts, which are also shared on the president’s verified Facebook page.
