Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg is testifying before the House Financial Services Committee today. That’s where Dem Rep. Maxine Waters asked him about fact-checking political ads:
.@RepMaxineWaters: “You plan on doing no fact checking on political ads?”
Mark Zuckerberg: “Our policy is that we do not fact check politicians’ speech.” https://t.co/LEqLzvD8dh pic.twitter.com/QONmHwrHSI
— Evan McMurry (@evanmcmurry) October 23, 2019
Zuckerberg goes on to say that Facebook does work with “independent fact-checkers,” but reiterates that Facebook itself does not fact-check ads because he believes that consumers should be able to make up their own minds.
Good.
— We Are Home (@WeAreHomeNow) October 23, 2019
Good. That's the right answer. https://t.co/usCXfpuAC6
— (((AG))) (@AG_Conservative) October 23, 2019
I kind of agree with Zucks here. Facebook is not in a ethical nor constitutional positions to determine fact from fiction. How would this process even look like. Every random statement be investigated? Determining what to believe and what to ignore exists on every platform.
— Joshua Suber (@thats_suber) October 23, 2019
This is exactly right. It’s also consistent with longstanding practice and consistent with First Amendment jurisprudence (yes, I know tech companies aren’t the government, but I like it when they move their policies closer to First Amendment precedent). https://t.co/Yrpn84DW0i
— David French (@DavidAFrench) October 23, 2019
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