Washington - Facebook chief Mark Zuckerberg says the major
social media companies should not position themselves as the
gatekeepers of political speech online, as US President Donald Trump
is threatening to regulate the firms.
The pronouncement seems to create a clear distinction between
Facebook and Twitter, after the latter company fact-checked Trump
this week and earned the president's ire.
"I don't think Facebook, or internet platforms in general, should be
arbiters of truth," Zuckerberg said in an interview that aired
Thursday on CNBC, a cable news channel, calling this a "dangerous
line."
Trump will issue an executive order later Thursday on social media
companies, the White House said.
%%%twitter https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@realDonaldTrump's tweets. "I don't think that Facebook or Internet platforms in general should be arbiters of truth." pic.twitter.com/tFP6iIIMEx
— Squawk Box (@SquawkCNBC)
The New York Times reported that the order could erode protections
for those firms in terms of liability for content posted on their
platforms.
However, in the short run, the order may stop at calling for federal
agencies to better explain protections and set up working groups
within the judiciary, limiting any serious changes to how social
media giants conduct business.
"This will be a Big Day for Social Media and FAIRNESS!" Trump said
on Twitter, hyping his own order.
This will be a Big Day for Social Media and FAIRNESS!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 28, 2020
Trump erupted in anger this week at Twitter after that platform
attached a fact check to one of the president's posts opposing
mail-in ballots.
The fact check indicated the president was making false claims that
voting by post would lead to mass fraud, amid a fight between
Democrats and Trump over expanding people's ability to cast their
ballots in this election year amid a pandemic.
Twitter chief Jack Dorsey explained the tweet may have mislead voters
into thinking they do not need to register for a ballot, indicating
this was a particular category of concern as it could harm people's
ability to cast a vote.
Fact-checking "does not make us an 'arbiter of truth,'" Dorsey said.
"Our intention is to connect the dots of conflicting statements and
show the information in dispute so people can judge for themselves."
%%%twitter https://twitter.com/yoyoel?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@yoyoel
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump)
Using his Twitter soapbox, where he has more than 80 million
followers, Trump alleged conservative voices were being silenced by
online platforms and, if that continued, threatened to "strongly
regulate, or close them down."
Zuckerberg said that while Facebook does not want to be "determining
what is true or false," the company does have limits, including false
medical information, voter suppression or hoaxes.
"There are lines, and we will enforce them," Zuckerberg said.
"But, I think, in general, you want to give as wide a voice as
possible, and give particular deference to political speech."
In a separate interview with Fox, another cable channel, Zuckerberg
said Facebook was determined to "give people a voice" and indicated
he would also be opposed to government restrictions on free speech
"I'll have to understand what they actually would intend to do, but,
in general, I think a government choosing to censor a platform
because they're worried about censorship doesn't exactly strike me as
the right reflex there," the Facebook founder said.