Mark Zuckerberg weighed in on the spits of Jack Dorsey and Donald Trump
New Delhi:
Facebook chief Mark Zuckerberg said he would take a simplified approach by vouching for online content amid the argument between Twitter chief Jack Dorsey and US President Donald Trump on the microblogging website checking out tweets from Mr. Trump.
Twitter had tagged two of Mr. Trump’s tweets in which he said that more postal votes would lead to what he called a “rigged election” in November. There is no evidence that attempts are being made to rig the elections, and under tweets Twitter posted a link that said, “Get the facts on the postal ballots”.
Zuckerberg, however, said that Facebook – the world‘s largest social networking site – has a different policy in handling these issues.
“I firmly believe that Facebook should not be the arbiter of the truth of everything people say online,” said Zuckerberg in an interview published online by Fox News.
“I think that in general, private companies, especially these platform companies, should not be able to do this,” he said.
After the Twitter action, Mr. Trump launched a tirade – on Twitter – in which he claimed that the political right in the United States was censored. “Republicans believe that social media platforms are completely silencing the voices of the Tories. We will tightly regulate or shut them down before we can allow this to happen,” Trump tweeted.
For years, Twitter has been accused of ignoring the President’s violation of the platform’s rules with daily, often hourly roadblocks, personal insults and inaccurate information sent to over 80 million followers. .
Dorsey today strengthened his position by reporting “incorrect or disputed information about elections around the world“. He called for “leaving our employees out of this” as the confrontation with Mr. Trump should intensify.
“Factual check: there is someone ultimately responsible for our actions as a company, and it is me. Please leave our employees out of this. We will continue to report incorrect or disputed information about elections around the world. And we will admit and own all the mistakes we make, “tweeted Dorsey.
Fact-checking: There is someone ultimately responsible for our actions as a business, and it’s me. Please leave our employees out of this. We will continue to report incorrect or disputed information about elections around the world. And we will admit and have all the mistakes we make.
– jack (@jack) May 28, 2020
“It doesn’t make us an ‘arbiter of the truth’. Our intention is to link the points of contradictory statements and to show the information in dispute so that people can judge for themselves. More transparency on our part is essential so that people can clearly see why behind our actions, “said the CEO of Twitter.
With AFP inputs
