Hillary Clinton took aim at social media giant Facebook by accusing its “authoritarian” CEO Mark Zuckerberg of planning on using the platform’s “immense” power to re-elect Trump in November, according to her interview with The Atlantic.
“They have, in my view, contorted themselves into making arguments about freedom of speech and censorship, which they are hanging on to because it’s in their commercial interests,” Clinton said.
Clinton said she was alarmed by what she views as Zuckerberg’s unwillingness to battle the spread of disinformation and propaganda on his own platform.
Facebook has come under fire for its decision to allow politicians to lie in paid ads while banning regular users from doing so.
When asked whether she sees a Trumpian quality in Zuckerberg’s reasoning, Clinton agreed.
“It’s Trumpian,” she said. “It’s authoritarian.”
Clinton’ compared her dealings with Zuckerberg to those of a world leader “I feel like you’re negotiating with a foreign power sometimes,” she said, referencing conversations she’s had “at the highest levels” with Facebook. “He’s immensely powerful, this is a global company that has a huge influence in ways that we’re only beginning to understand.”
Zuckerberg has been “somehow persuaded, that it’s to his and Facebook’s advantage not to cross Trump,” Clinton said. “That’s what I believe. And it just gives me a pit in my stomach.”
Photo by Suzi Pratt/Getty Images for Refinery29
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