Washington: Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg defended the social network's policy of publishing campaign ads that contain false statements or lies and claimed that people will just have to live with it and decide for themselves what is true and what is not true.
In a speech at Georgetown University in Washington on Thursday, Zuckerberg admitted that he is concerned about the "erosion of truth" in society and online, but he rejected the idea that his firm and other tech companies should be the ones to decide whether info placed on the social networks is accurate or not, Efe news reported. "I don't think most people want to live in a world where you can only post things that tech companies judge to be 100 percent true," he said, adding that he does not believe that a "private company (should) censor politicians or the news in a democracy." It is the public who "should decide what is credible, not tech companies," the Facebook CEO said.
He said that there were exceptions to that general rule, asserting that Facebook was not going to allow content to be posted that incites violence or poses an imminent risk of harm. He said that people place ads on Facebook about many more things than elections, and that poses a challenge on where to draw the line at what is allowed. "I believe that when it's not absolutely clear what to do, we should err on the side of greater expression," he said, going on to say that prohibiting election ads would favor incumbents or candidates seeking re-election.
—Agencies
