Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg downplayed a dinner he had with President Donald Trump earlier this year, adding that he wanted to respect that it was a “private discussion.”
The Facebook founder was asked in an interview by CBS News that aired Monday about his meeting with the president in October.
“I mean… we talked about a number of things that were on his mind. And some of the topics that you’d read about in the news around, around our work,” Zuckerberg said.
When asked if Trump tried to “lobby” Zuckerberg, he continued:
“No. I mean, I don’t think that that’s… that I think some of the stuff that people talk about or think gets discussed and these discussions are not really how…how that works. I also want to respect that it was a private dinner and… private discussion.”
The meeting with Trump coincided with reports surfacing that Zuckerberg had held meetings with a number of conservative pundits, politicians, and journalists.
Q: What was the nature of your meeting with Trump? Can you say?
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) December 2, 2019
ZUCKERBERG: “Ah, sure, I mean, we talked about, ahm, a number of things that were on his mind, and, um, some of the topics that you’d read about in the news around, around, um, our work.” pic.twitter.com/b2rqHoZrn7
The meetings came as a number of conservatives online—including Trump—have criticized social media companies, including Facebook, of having a bias against them.
Zuckerberg addressed the reports of his meetings with conservatives at the time by saying that he has “dinners with lots of people across the spectrum on lots of different issues all the time.”
You can read all of the CBS News report here.
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