Zuckerberg responds to Trump tweet that Facebook was "always anti-Trump"
Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg said the social media network built "a community for all people," in response to President Trump's tweet Wednesday morning that Facebook was "always anti-Trump."
"Trump says Facebook is against him. Liberals say we helped Trump. Both sides are upset about ideas and content they don't like. That's what running a platform for all ideas looks like," Zuckerberg said in a statement.
Zuckerberg noted that every candidate had a Facebook page to communicate with "tens of millions."
He said there were "billions of interactions discussing the issues that may have never happened offline," and said the platform gave more people a voice than before. He credited Facebook's "get out the vote" effort with registering as many as 2 million to vote, which he said was more than Mr. Trump or Hillary Clinton's efforts.
But Zuckerberg said he regretted that he called it "crazy" that Facebook influenced the 2016 election. "This is too important an issue to be dismissive," he said.
Since the election, Facebook has come under increasing scrutiny for both ads purchased by Russia-linked actors attempting to meddle in the election and for the proliferation of fake news on the platform. In August, Facebook acknowledged for the first time that "malicious actors" used the platform during the 2016 presidential election as part of a campaign "with the intent of harming the reputation of specific political targets."
Last week, Zuckerberg said that Facebook had found and shut down thousands of fake accounts that have attempted to influence elections around the world. He said Facebook has given Congress and special counsel Robert Mueller the ads purchased by Russians as part of the investigation into Russian meddling in the election.
As for the rise of false stories that cropped up on Facebook, Zuckerberg announced in November that the platform is working to keep advertising dollars away from fake news sites. But it was during those remarks that he called it "pretty crazy" that Facebook influenced the election.
Shortly after the election, one of the leading writers of fake news on Facebook about the election, Paul Horner, said, "I think Trump is in the White House because of me ... His campaign manager posted my story about a protester getting paid $3,500 as fact. Like, I made that up. I posted a fake ad on Craigslist." Horner died on Sept. 18.
