Mark Zuckerberg defends political ads on FB, says his platform no moderator of content

Mark Zuckerberg, founder and CEO of Facebook stood by his decision to allow political advertisements on his website by politicians even if they are full of targeted and agenda-driven, false information. He said it is "something we have to live with".

People worry about the misinformation age, but Zuckerberg thinks that people do not want to stay in a world where you can say things only certified by tech companies to be true.

"In a democratic setup, I think that the people who call the most for us to remove content are often the first to complain when it’s their content that falls on the wrong side of the policy."

Zuckerberg elaborately defended his stance in a 35-minute long speech, saying that having tech companies moderate content could be dangerous.

"Political ads on Facebook are more transparent than anywhere else," Zuckerberg said. "We don't fact-check political ads... because we believe people should be able to see for themselves what politicians are saying, reported The Hill.

"I know many people disagree, but in general I don't think it's right for a private company to censor politicians or the news in a democracy. And we are not an outlier here."

Zuckerberg said that the company had considered banning political ads altogether but then rejected this approach.

"Political ads can be an important part of voice, especially for local candidates and up and coming challengers that the media might not otherwise cover," he explained. "Banning political ads favours incumbents and whoever the media chooses to cover."

Facebook has been under fire recently after President Trump's re-election campaign came out with an advertisement alleging that former US Vice President Joe Biden used his office to pressure Ukrainian officials to drop an investigation into a company where his son, Hunter Biden, sat on the board. The ad did not offer any evidence to the claim.

Cable network CNN has refused to run the ad, whereas Facebook declined to remove it.

Facebook also came under fire earlier this year when it declined to take down a user-posted video of Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) that was edited to give it spin like she was stuttering, according to The Hill.

Zuckerberg told The Post that he is "working through what Facebook’s policy should be" when it comes to deepfake videos and is "getting pretty close to at least rolling out the first version of it."

Zuckerberg will testify before the House Financial Services Committee next Wednesday in a hearing on his company's plans to launch Libra, a new digital currency that has drawn scrutiny from lawmakers and regulators alike.