Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg told President Donald Trump over the weekend that he was worried about the president's statements concerning demonstrations against the death of George Floyd in police custody, Axios reported on Sunday.
In a phone call Zuckerberg "expressed concerns about the tone and the rhetoric" of the president, according ,to a source familiar with the conversation.
Although Zuckerberg did not apparently make any specific requests, another source familiar with the phone call said he did tell the president that he personally disagreed with Trump’s rhetoric and that by using such language, the president was putting Facebook in a difficult position.
The specific rhetoric in question was a tweet and Facebook post in which Trump quoted a former Miami police chief while referring to violent demonstrations, writing on Twitter: "When the looting starts, the shooting starts," The Hill reported.
Facebook and other social media platforms have been criticized by activists and some Democratic lawmakers for permitting some of Trump’s messages that have false or misleading information to remain up.
Zuckerberg told CNBC that social networks should not be “arbiters of truth,” contending that people “should be able to see what politicians say.”
The Facebook CEO later said that Trump’s posts about the protests did not violate the company’s policies.
“I disagree strongly with how the President spoke about this, but I believe people should be able to see this for themselves, because ultimately accountability for those in positions of power can only happen when their speech is scrutinized out in the open,” Zuckerberg said.
Brian Freeman ✉
Brian Freeman, a Newsmax writer based in Israel, has more than three decades writing and editing about culture and politics for newspapers, online and television.
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