Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg (Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg and Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey had a public spat after Zuckerberg criticized Twitter for flagging a pair of US President Donald Trump’s posts with fact-check warnings saying that social media platforms should not function as “arbiter of truth”
“I just believe strongly that Facebook shouldn’t be the arbiter of truth of everything that people say online,” Zuckerberg told Fox News’s Dana Perino during an interview.
“Private companies probably shouldn’t be, especially these platform companies, shouldn’t be in the position of doing that.” Zuckerberg added
Dorsey responded to Zuckerberg’s “arbiter of truth” barb, explaining that Twitter’s goal “is to connect the dots of conflicting statements and show the information in dispute so people can judge for themselves.”
“More transparency from us is critical so folks can clearly see the why behind our actions,” Dorsey tweeted.
Dorsey also vowed the company would “continue to point out incorrect or disputed information about elections globally” and “admit to and own any mistakes we make” in the process.
Twitter had stamped a fact-check link on two Trump tweets this week in which the president insinuated mass voting-by-mail would vitiate the integrity of electoral process.
The surprise action by the micro-blogging platform invited the ire of Trump who accused Twitter of censorship and announced that he will be issuing executive order that could strip social media companies of protections against liability for user content.
Trump also threatened to “strongly regulate” or altogether shutter social media platforms lending credence to Republican allegations that they “totally silence conservatives voices.
In several tweets on Wednesday morning, the president accused social-media companies of silencing conservatives, as well as interfering in the 2016 election.
“Republicans feel that Social Media Platforms totally silence conservatives voices,” Trump wrote. “We will strongly regulate, or close them down, before we can ever allow this to happen.”
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