Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg had an undisclosed dinner with Trump and Peter Thiel at the White House
- Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg and another exec met with President Donald Trump at an undisclosed dinner at the White House as the social media site faces continued criticism for its political ad policy.
- Trump hosted Zuckerberg and Facebook executive Peter Thiel for dinner while the CEO was visiting DC for a congressional hearing about Facebook's new cryptocurrency Libra, NBC News reported.
- It's unclear what Zuckerberg, Thiel, and Trump discussed during their dinner.
- This is the second time the Facebook CEO met with Trump in an undisclosed meeting. Zuckerberg previously dined with the president and other senators at the end of September in a surprise DC visit.
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Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg and another exec met with President Donald Trump at an undisclosed dinner at the White House as the social media site faces continued criticism for its political ad policy.
Trump hosted Zuckerberg and Facebook executive Peter Thiel for dinner while the CEO was visiting DC for a congressional hearing about Facebook's new cryptocurrency Libra, NBC News reported.
"As is normal for a CEO of a major US company, Mark accepted an invitation to have dinner with the President and First Lady at the White House," a Facebook spokesperson told NBC News in a statement.
It is unclear why Zuckerberg and Thiel met with the president, what they discussed, or why the meeting was undisclosed until NBC News reported it.
This is the second time the Facebook CEO met with Trump in an undisclosed meeting. Zuckerberg previously dined with the president and other senators at the end of September in a surprise DC visit.
Facebook has been under fire for its standing on political advertising, after the company announced that it would not fact check political ads. Facebook confirmed that false information could be included in an advertisement, so long as it doesn't include any profanity.
Zuckerberg appeared before Congress at the end of October to defend the site's policy, saying that the policy makes way for free speech and allows voters to consume the information without outside influences. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez grilled the CEO on what kinds of ads would be allowable under the policy.
"Would I be able to run advertisements on Facebook targeting Republicans in primaries saying they voted for the Green New Deal?" Ocasio-Cortez asked during the hearing. "I mean, if you're not fact-checking political advertisements, I'm just trying to understand the bounds here."
"I don't know the answer to that off the top of my head," Zuckerberg said. As Ocasio-Cortez began to move to another question, he added, "I think, probably."
2020 presidential candidate Sen. Elizabeth Warren has also called out Zuckerberg and Facebook's policy by creating a fake ad of her own. Her campaign posted an ad claiming that Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg had endorsed Trump's re-election. But she didn't run the ad without a disclaimer.
"You're probably shocked," the ad read. "And you might be thinking, 'how could this possibly be true?'"
"Well, it's not. (Sorry.)"
- Read more:
- Civil-rights leaders are lobbying Mark Zuckerberg to change his mind about allowing lies in Facebook's political ads - and he may compromise
- Facebook refuses to fact-check political ads, and it's infuriating employees and lawmakers. Here's why the issue has become Facebook's latest major controversy.
- Mark Zuckerberg launched an impassioned defense of political ads on Facebook, just minutes after Twitter banned them
- Hundreds of Facebook employees call on Mark Zuckerberg to change the social network's controversial rules on political ads