Mark Zuckerberg has denied making any deals with Donald Trump and his family not to fact-check the former POTUS's political posts online.
In the book The Contrarian: Peter Thiel and Silicon Valley's Pursuit of Power, author Max Chafkin claimed that Thiel overheard a conservation between Zuckerberg and Trump's son-in-law, Jared Kushner.
During their conversation, Thiel alleged that Zuckerberg and Kushner made a deal for the then-Trump administration to lay off regulations in exchange for Facebook not fact-checking his political posts.
Thiel reportedly described the agreement between the two as Zuckerberg's way of promising to push state-sanctioned conservatism.
Zuckerberg has reportedly denied ever making such deal with Kushner, and he also called the reports ridiculous.
Mark Zuckerberg criticized for not deleting Donald Trump's Facebook post
However, New York magazine said that Zuckerberg's actions during the Black Lives Matter protests last year suggested that he's not telling the truth. After all, he reportedly hid one of Trump's controversial posts on Twitter, but he left it up on Facebook.
"Any difficulty and we will assume control but, when the looting starts, the shooting starts," Trump wrote.
When the public saw the post on Trump's Facebook account, they criticized Zuckerberg for not taking it down. However, the CEO defended the company's decision to leave Trump's post on the social media platform.
During a meeting, Zuckerberg said that the decision to keep Trump's post on Facebook was tough, but it was done thoroughly. He also said that his decision was in line with Facebook's approach to free speech.
A spokesperson for Facebook also said that they announced a fact-checking policy on political speech in September 2019. But the practice had already been in place since September 2018.
Related Article : Donald Trump Says Facebook Ban Until January 2023 Insults His Supporters; Teases Presidential Run In 2024
Donald Trump's most controversial social media posts
Throughout his time at the White House, Trump has posted thousands of controversial tweets and Facebook posts that didn't sit well with his critics.
For instance, Trump repeatedly called COVID-19 as China virus. At one point, he also called himself patriotic while talking about face masks.
In 2018, the ex-POTUS shocked millions of his followers when he called Joe Biden "crazy, weak both mentally and physically."
In 2016, Trump also claimed to have won the popular vote during the elections, and not Hillary Clinton.
Mark Zuckerberg pledges $1.3 million to help Jewish causes
In other news, Zuckerberg also made headlines this week after he and his wife, Priscilla Chan, pledged to donate $1.3 million to 11 Jewish causes.
"Mark and Priscilla have made some personal commitments in the past, but these new grants reinforce their interest in learning and deepening their connections with the community," a source said.
Zuckerberg and his wife have been meeting with rabbis and scholars privately to discuss Judaism and the Jewish community.
Two of their beneficiaries are national organizations: OneTable and PJ Library. The rest are organizations primarily serving the locals in the San Francisco Bay Area such as Contra Costa Jewish Day School, Gideon Hausner Jewish Day School, and the Jewish Community High School of the Bay.
