Princewill Pius
On Oct. 23, 2019, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg (est. $63.4 billion) testified before the House Financial Services Committee, where members of Congress asked the tech giant about a variety of topics including political advertising. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez specifically grilled Zuckerberg about the lack of fact-checking of the political ads by his company. “Well, congresswoman, I think lying is bad,” Zuckerberg answered (via ArsTechnica). “I think if you’re gonna lie, that would be bad.” However, he added that the public should determine for themselves if politicians are lying or not. Spoiler: That didn’t go well.
In an open letter published to The New York Times, screenwriter Aaron Sorkin, who penned the Zuckerberg biopic The Social Network, blasted Zuckerberg for failing to take down blatantly false political advertisements. “Right now, on your website, is an ad claiming that Joe Biden gave the Ukrainian attorney general a billion dollars not to investigate his son,” Sorkin wrote. “Every square inch of that is a lie and it’s under your logo. That’s not defending free speech, Mark, that’s assaulting truth.”
Zuckerberg fired back with a monologue from another Sorkin movie — 1995’s The American President. “You want free speech? Let’s see you acknowledge a man whose words make your blood boil, who’s standing center stage and advocating at the top of his lungs that which you would spend a lifetime opposing at the top of yours,” Zuckerberg wrote, in part, on his official Facebook page.
Written by: Nicki
