– Mr Zuckerberg, what year and month did you personally first become aware
of Cambridge Analytica?
– I'm not sure of the exact time but it was probably around the time
when it became public.
I think it was around March of 2018. I could be wrong.
– When did Facebook's COO Sheryl Sandberg become aware of Cambridge Analytica?
– I don't know. – You don't know?
– Did anyone on your leadership team know about Cambridge Analytica
prior to the initial report by the Guardian on 11 December 2015?
– Congresswoman, I believe so that some folks were tracking it internally.
Actually, as you're asking this, I do think I was aware
of Cambridge Analytica as an entity earlier I just don't if I was tracking
how they were using Facebook specifically.
– When was the issue discussed with your board member Peter Thiel?
– Congresswoman, I don't know that.
– You don't know? This was the largest data scandal with respect to your company
that had catastrophic impacts on the 2016 election. You don't know?
– Well congresswoman, I'm sure we discussed it after we were aware
of what happened.
– OK. You announce recently that the official policy of Facebook
now allows politicians to pay to spread disinformation in 2020 election
and in the future, so I just want to know how far I can push this in the next year.
Under your policy using census data as well, could I pay to target black zip codes
and advertise them the incorrect election date?
– No, congresswoman, you couldn't.
We have, even for these policies around the news worthiness of content
that politicians say and the general principle that I believe
– But you said you're not going to fact check?
– If anyone including a politician is saying things that can cause violence
or could risk imminent physical harm or voter or census suppression,
when we roll out the census suppression policy, we will take that content down.
– So you will. There is some threshold where you will fact check political advertisements.
Is that what you're telling me?
– Congresswoman, yes, for specific things like that whether where there's risk of harm.
– Could I run ads targeting Republicans in primaries saying that
they voted for the green new deal?
– Sorry, can you repeat that?
– Would I be able to run advertisements on Facebook targeting Republicans
in primaries saying they voted for the green new deal?
I mean, if you're not fact checking political advertisements
I'm trying to understand the bounds here of what's fair game.
– I don't know the answer to that off the top of my head.
– You don't know if i'll be able to do that.
Do you see a potential problem here with a complete lack of fact checking
on political advertisements?
– Congresswoman, I think lying is bad and I think if you were to run an ad
that a had a lie that would be bad.
That's different from it being, in our position, the right thing to do
to prevent your constituents or people in an election from seeing that you had lied.
– So you won't take down lies or you will take down lies?
It think it's just a pretty simple yes or no.
I'm not talking about spin, I'm talking about actual disinformation.
– Congresswoman, in a democracy I believe that people should be able
to see for themselves what politicians that they may or may not vote for ...
– So you won't take them down?
You may flag that it's wrong, but you won't take it down.
– Congresswoman, it depends on the context that it shows up, organic post, ads.
– One question: in your ongoing dinner parties with far right figures,
some of who advanced the theory that white supremacy is a hoax,
did you discuss social media bias against conservatives
and do you believe there's a bias?
– Congresswoman, I'm sorry, I don't remember everything that was in that question
– That's alright, I'll move on.
Can us explain why you named the Daily Collar a publication well-documented
with ties to white supremacist as a fact checker for Facebook?
– Congresswoman, sure. We actually don't appoint the independent fact checkers.
They go through an independent organisation called
the Independent Fact Checking Network that has a rigorous standard
for who they allow to serve as a fact checker.
– So you would say that white supremacist tied publications meet a rigorous standard
for fact checking? Thank you.
– Congresswoman, I would say we're not the one assessing that standard.
The International Fact Checking Network is the one who is setting that standard.