Thu 10 September 2020:
Mark Zuckerberg told “Axios on HBO” that Facebook currently doesn’t plan to take the same kind of strong action against anti-vaccination misinformation that it has for the coronavirus pandemic.
“If someone is pointing out a case where a vaccine caused harm or that they’re worried about it – you know, that’s a difficult thing to say from my perspective that you shouldn’t be allowed to express at all,” Zuckerberg said.
But he denied that Facebook’s algorithms are designed to push viewpoints “that are going to kind of enrage people somehow, and that’s what we try to show people”.
“That’s not actually how our systems work,” he added.
In an acknowledgment of Facebook’s power in promoting misinformation, the company last week said it would block political advertising on the platform for seven days ahead of November’s presidential election to help prevent the spread of misinformation.
But he rejected a 30-day hold on political ads, saying that would be different because “people want to be able to run get-out-the-vote campaigns”, as well as respond to attacks and make closing arguments.
Zuckerberg added that one red line he would decisively draw would be over threats to election officials – threats that “would obviously undermine the legitimacy of the election”.
Facebook, he said, would “very aggressively take down any threats against those people who are going to be involved in doing the counting and making sure that the election goes the way it’s supposed to”.
Mark Zuckerberg, has said he “hopes” his social network will not effectively destroy society as we know it. Zuckerberg also said it was “just wrong” to think that Facebook is driven by conservatives.
