Mark Zuckerberg stated that he would not fact-check political posts if Trump did not impose severe regulations, according to a new book.
Peter Thiel claimed that Zuckerberg had made the deal with him during a White House meeting in 2019.
Thiel's confidant said it was pushing "state-sanctioned conservativeism" on Facebook.
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Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg made a deal to former President Donald Trump. The agreement stipulated that Facebook would not fact-check political posts if Trump's administration did not impose "heavy handed regulations," according to a new book. Zuckerberg refuted the claim.
According to Max Chafkin's excerpt from "The Contrarian: Peter Thiel, Silicon Valley's Pursuit of Power", published by The Intelligencer, Peter Thiel, a venture capitalist, joined Trump, Zuckerberg, Trump advisor, and son-in law Jared Kushner in 2019.
According to the book, Zuckerberg claimed that no such deal was made and said the idea was "pretty absurd."
According to the excerpt, Zuckerberg promised Kushner that he would not fact-check political posts on Facebook so long as Trump's administration did not regulate the platform.
Chafkin was told by the associate about the encounter. Thiel founded Palantir and PayPal. Thiel described the Zuckerberg-Kushner agreement as Thiel promising to promote "state-sanctioned conservatism on Facebook."
Chafkin stated that Facebook could not have taken similar steps as Twitter or other platforms to respond to Black Lives Matter protests, and the rhetoric surrounding January 6th.
"During Black Lives Matter protests Twitter concealed a tweet by the president that appeared to condone violence. 'When looting begins, the shooting starts'; Facebook permitted it," Chafkin wrote, citing an Intelligencer excerpt. "Facebook ignored most calls to restrict the spread of Stop the Steal’ groups in the days leading to the January 6th insurrection at the US Capitol. This was despite the fact that Trump had won the election."
A spokesperson for Facebook pointed out that the social media announced in September 2019 they had implemented a fact-checking system on political speech. This announcement was made by Nick Clegg who is vice president of Global Affairs and Communications.
Facebook confirmed last year to The Washington Post, that even though the fact-checking policy had been officially announced in September 2019, Facebook actually put it into effect in September 2018. This was prior to the conversation Zuckerberg had with Kushner, Thiel and Trump.
