Facebook shouldn’t become ‘arbiters of truth’ — Zuckerberg

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg testifies remotely during a House Judiciary subcommittee hearing on antitrust on Capitol Hill on Wednesday, July 29, 2020, in Washington. (Pool via AP)

WASHINGTON–After Rep. Jim Sensenbrenner asked Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg about Twitter restricting Donald Trump Jr.’s account when he tweeted about hydroxychloroquine, Zuckerberg said “we do not want to become the arbiters of truth.”

“Congressman, well first to be clear, I think what you might be referring to happened on Twitter so it’s hard for me to speak to that, but I can talk to our policies about this,” Zuckerberg said. Later adding, “we do not want to become the arbiters of truth.”

Twitter Inc said on Tuesday it had restricted Donald Trump Jr.’s ability to tweet from his account for 12 hours, after it required him to delete a post that violated the social media site’s policy on coronavirus misinformation.

The eldest son of U.S. President Donald Trump posted a since-deleted tweet on Monday with a viral video of doctors talking about the drug hydroxychloroquine.

A much-anticipated congressional hearing featuring the CEOs of four of America’s largest tech firms kicked off on Wednesday with lawmakers locking horns while also offering a window into their ideas about reining in Big Tech.

Facebook Inc’s Mark Zuckerberg, Amazon.com Inc’s Jeff Bezos, Alphabet Inc-owned Google’s Sundar Pichai and Apple Inc’s Tim Cook – whose companies together represent about $5 trillion of market value – appeared via videoconference before the House Judiciary Committee’s antitrust panel.