AOC grilled Zuckerberg on Facebook's controversial ad policies and he struggled to answer her questions
- Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez grilled Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg during his congressional testimony Wednesday, and he struggled to come up with responses to her questions.
- Congresswoman from New York asked Zuckerberg questions regarding fact-checking political advertisements on the site and who is approved to be a third-party fact checker.
- Other politicians have criticized Facebook's fact-checking policies when it comes to political ads, like 2020 presidential candidates Sen. Elizabeth Warren and former Vice President Joe Biden.
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez grilled Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg during his congressional testimony Wednesday, and he struggled to come up with responses to her questions.
The congresswoman from New York asked Zuckerberg questions regarding fact-checking political advertisements on the site, which has faced criticisms from other politicians like 2020 presidential candidates Sen. Elizabeth Warren and former Vice President Joe Biden.
President Donald Trump reportedly spent $1.6 million on advertising on Facebook with misleading and debunked claims about former Vice President Joe Biden in relation to the whistleblower scandal in which both politicians are entangled. Facebook did take down one of Trump's ad, but only because he called Biden a "b---h," which violated the platform's policy on profanity.
The social media site confirmed earlier this month that these ads were allowed to run, and that in most instances political ads would not be subject to fact-checking.
"Posts and ads from politicians are generally not subjected to fact-checking," according to Facebook's policy. "In evaluating when this applies we ask our fact-checking partners to look at politicians at every level."
"There will be some instances where a false or partly false rating from our fact-checking partners will affect politicians," Facebook's policy continues. "When a politician shares a specific piece of content - i.e., a link to an article, video or photo created by someone else that has been previously debunked on Facebook - we will demote that content, display a warning and reject its inclusion in ads."
Read more: Facebook announced that it will not pull down or fact check posts made by politicians
Watch a clip of the testimony below:
Tweet Embed://twitter.com/mims/statuses/1187100670911864832?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
This is a WILD exchange. The last two questions at the end made me gasp. @AOC: "So you would say that white supremacist tied publications meet a rigorous standard for fact checking?" Watch how Mark Zuckerberg responds.pic.twitter.com/tHKKu7VTVU