There is no truth in the speculation that President Donald Trump and he have a secret understanding regarding posting to Facebook, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg says.
Zuckerberg told Axios, regarding Trump being able to post some provoking posts on Facebook, “I’ve heard this speculation, too, so let me be clear: There’s no deal of any kind.”
The social media company is facing a growing boycott, as several companies — who are slashing their advertising spending — are urging Facebook to commit to handle divisive content and hate speech.
Zuckerberg added, “Actually, the whole idea of a deal is pretty ridiculous.”
Over a month ago, Zuckerberg defended the decision not to challenge Trump’s inflammatory posts, following several employees walking out on June 1, as IJR previously reported.
“Mark always told us that he would draw the line at speech that calls for violence. He showed us on Friday that this was a lie. Facebook will keep moving the goalposts every time Trump escalates, finding excuse after excuse not to act,” a former Facebook employee previously said.
Zuckerberg also told Axios that he does speak with Trump “from time to time, just like I spoke with our last president and political leaders around the world.”
As Axios reports, there have been at least five posts and advertisements from Trump that have been taken down on Facebook since 2018.
Appearing to speak about a reported dinner Zuckerberg had with Trump and Facebook board member Peter Thiel at the White House in October of 2019, Zuckerberg said, “I accepted the invite for dinner because I was in town and he is the president of the United States. For what it’s worth, I also had multiple meals and meetings with President Obama.”
He added, “The fact that I met with a head of state should not be surprising, and does not suggest we have some kind of deal.”