Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg says while he finds Holocaust denial ‘deeply offensive,’ he doesn’t believe that such content should be banned from Facebook.
Speaking with Recode’s Kara Swisher, Zuckerberg – who is Jewish – said in an interview published Wednesday that he thinks there are things ‘that different people get wrong.’
He added that he doesn’t think they are ‘intentionally’ getting it wrong. At this point, Swisher cut in and said that in the case of Holocaust deniers, it may be intentionally wrong.
Zuckerberg said: ‘It’s hard to impugn intent and to understand the intent. I just think, as abhorrent as some of those examples are, I think the reality is also that I get things wrong when I speak publicly.’
The remarks sparked criticism, including from the Anti-Defamation League, which said in a statement that Facebook has a ‘moral and ethical obligation’ not to allow people to disseminate Holocaust denial on its platform.
In response to the criticism, he later said: ‘I personally find Holocaust denial deeply offensive, and I absolutely didn’t intend to defend the intent of people who deny that.
Mark Zuckerberg says if Facebook is broken up by restrictions placed on it by the US Government, a Chinese company will come to ‘fill the void’ and will likely be less willing to work with Congress
He called out Chinese companies specifically, noting ‘they do not share the values that we have’. Zuckerberg spent two days in April testifying to Congress about Facebook’s response to hacking and election meddling in 2016
‘Of course if a post crossed a line into advocating for violence or hate against a particular group, it would be removed. … These issues are very challenging but I believe that often the best way to fight offensive bad speech is with good speech.’
Zuckerberg said offensive content isn’t necessarily banned unless it is to organize harm or attack someone.
He also hit back at the idea Facebook has become too big and should be broken up into smaller companies.
The social media tycoon told Recode calls to shrink the company to allow competitors an easier playing field would result in a Chinese corporation filling the void – who might not share Facebook’s ‘American values’.
Zuckerberg, who has recently faced congressional hearings on the data practices of Facebook – particularly the data breaches by Cambridge Analytica – and the lack of any complete competitor.
He told congress in April Facebook had ‘a lot’ of competitors, who overlap with their service in ‘different ways’.
The 34-year-old spent two days testifying about his company and answering questions – something he suggested an overseas company the size of Facebook would be less inclined to do.
‘I think you can bet that, if the government here is worried about… whether it’s election interference or terrorism… I don’t think Chinese companies are going to want to cooperate as much and aid the national interest there,’ he said.
Zuckerberg also spoke out against the US constraining its own companies, noting it would only give way to overseas – specifically Chinese – competitors.
‘If we adopt a stance which is that, we’re going to, as a country, decide to clip the wings of these [American] companies and make it so it’s harder for them to operate in different places or they have to be smaller, then there are plenty of other companies out there willing and able to take the place of the work that we’re doing,’ he said.
The social media tycoon, 34, also said he did not feel it was right to delete posts that had misinformation in them – such as those posted by Holocaust deniers. ‘At the end of the day, I don’t believe that our platform should take that down because I think there are things that different people get wrong. I don’t think they’re intentionally getting it wrong,’ he said
‘And they do not share the values that we have.’
Zuckerberg admitted he, as the creator of Facebook, was to blame for data being stolen and allegedly used to hijack the 2016 Presidential Election.
In his defense, he claimed he had been alerting the FBI to attacks on RNC and DNC members, and other accounts since 2015, but admitted Facebook was ‘too slow’ to respond to accounts spreading disinformation.
In the near-90-minute podcast, Zuckerberg also said he did not see it as his job to remove posts that are inaccurate, explaining he believed users should be able to share unintentionally misleading information.