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Mark Zuckerberg meets with conservatives, says he wants to give everyone a voice

What did Glenn Beck think about all of this?

 

Josh Katzowitz

Tech

Posted on May 18, 2016   Updated on May 26, 2021, 6:20 pm CDT

When Gizmodo reported the tale of how the curators of Facebook’s Trending Topics section were suppressing the news from conservatively tinged websites, the social media platform defended itself by claiming it was actually a friend to those on the right.

And now that U.S. Senate leaders have formally asked whether Facebook manipulates the news it shows its readers, Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg met with conservative leaders Wednesday to assure them that the company isn’t biased in the way it presents news.

[Placeholder for https://www.facebook.com/zuck/posts/10102840575485751 embed.]

While Zuckerberg is a well-known liberal, this kind of discussion—with politicians and with Facebook customers—makes perfect business sense. As Michael Jordan once famously said when asked why he wouldn’t publicly support a Democratic Senate candidate from North Carolina, “Republicans wear sneakers, too.”

According to the BBC, among those who traveled to Facebook headquarters were conservative commenter Glenn Beck, Fox News analyst and George W. Bush press secretary Dana Perino, Heritage Foundation President Jim DeMint, and Donald Trump adviser Barry Bennett. The BBC also wrote that several invited conservatives declined the invitation.

It’s unclear at this point what was specifically discussed or if any relationships were mended, but it was clear that at least one conservative seemed apprehensive about the meeting before it began.

[Placeholder for https://www.facebook.com/GlennBeck/posts/10154218257138188 embed.]

Politico reported the closed-door meeting lasted 90 minutes with Zuckerberg stressing that Facebook doesn’t censor for politics in its News Feed and that the social media site wants to be an “open platform.”

It sounds like some of the attendees were skeptical, while others were more positive.

Either way, one thing seems certain: No matter what happens, Americans don’t want the government regulating Facebook.

H/T Oliver Darcy

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*First Published: May 18, 2016, 9:58 pm CDT