Meta boss Mark Zuckerberg wants to play an “active role” in shaping technology regulation under President-elect Donald Trump's administration, the social media giant's policy chief has said. .
Nick Clegg, head of international affairs at Meta, also admitted that Meta, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram, had gone “a little too far” in moderating content related to the pandemic.
Mr. Clegg said at a press conference on Monday that Mr. Zuckerberg aims to “take an active role in the discussions that any administration needs to have to maintain American leadership in technology.” According to the Financial Times.
U.S. leadership on technology issues is “critically important given the geopolitical uncertainty that exists around the world, especially given the pivotal role that AI will play,” Clegg added.
Clegg's accusations are the latest sign that Meta is hoping to curry favor with President Trump. President Trump previously called Facebook an “enemy of the people” and accused its billionaire founder of censoring conservative views.
Last week, Zuckerberg reportedly had dinner with Trump at Mar-a-Lago after Trump reportedly requested a meeting with the president-elect to discuss the “incoming administration.” Afterwards, Mehta said Zuckerberg “appreciated the invitation.”
Clegg said Zuckerberg wants Meta's work to “improve the precision and accuracy of rule-based behavior” to be an “ongoing area of focus” for the company.
“We understand that our users have quite rightly spoken out and complained that we sometimes over-enforce, sometimes make mistakes, and remove or restrict content that is harmless or innocuous. “I am acutely aware of this,” Mr Clegg said.
President Trump said one of the reasons he opposes the idea of banning Chinese-owned TikTok is because it would “make Facebook bigger.”
Mr. Trump and his allies targeted Meta as recently as July, accusing the company of withholding information about an assassination attempt on the then-presidential candidate at a July 13 rally.
Zuckerberg acknowledged in August that the Biden administration had pressured Facebook to censor content related to the coronavirus in 2021, including hilarious memes and satirical posts, and that the tech industry shocked.
Mr. Zuckerberg acknowledged this fact in a letter to Representative Jim Jordan (R-Ohio), chairman of the House Judiciary Committee.
The Facebook founder also acknowledged that the company made a mistake in the past when it censored the Post's exclusive coverage of Hunter Biden's laptop.
The proposal comes even as Meta is locked in fierce competition with the likes of Google and Microsoft-backed OpenAI to develop advanced artificial intelligence tools. Unlike its rivals, Meta supports an “open source” approach to AI.
Another key player vying for influence over AI policy is X owner Elon Musk, who has emerged as a key adviser to Trump and has frequently clashed with Zuckerberg over the years.
