Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg made a deal with former President Donald Trump’s administration not to fact check Trump’s political posts in exchange for the administration’s word that it would not impose regulations that would affect the company.
The information comes way of excerpts from The Contrarian: Peter Thiel and Silicon Valley’s Pursuit of Power published by New York Magazine.
“Facebook had long seen itself as a government unto itself,” wrote author Max Chafkin, “now, thanks to the understanding brokered by Thiel, the site would push what the Thiel confidant called ‘state-sanctioned conservatism.'”
Zuckerberg denied that a deal took place, calling the idea “pretty ridiculous.” However, Facebook did not take down posts in which the former president called for violence against Black Lives Matter (BLM) protesters and allowed posts promoting Trump’s “Big Lie” that the 2020 election was stolen to disseminate throughout the platform.
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The news comes as lawmakers demand answers from Facebook about how its content affects the mental health of children and teenagers. A Wall Street Journal report found that Facebook had determined that its Instagram social network was detrimental to the health of teenage girls. However, Facebook largely downplayed these results in public.
Alan is a writer, editor, and news junkie based in New York.
