Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg has claimed that conservatives are “just looking for someone to blame” for being censored on his company’s Facebook and Instagram platforms.
Zuckerberg made the claims during a live interview for the Acquired podcast in front of a packed audience at the Chase Center in San Francisco.
According to the Big Tech boss, conservatives only have themselves to blame if they are being censored on Facebook.
The Facebook founder continued by declaring that he is done apologizing for conservatives being silenced by his company.
In an attempt to blame conservatives themselves for the rampant censorship on his platforms, Zuckerberg claimed:
“When it’s a political problem… there are people operating in good faith who are identifying a problem and want something to be fixed, and there are people who are just looking for someone to blame.”
TechCrunch reports that Zuckerberg took the stage sporting a new look with long curly hair, a gold chain, and a custom-designed t-shirt reading “learning through suffering” in Greek.
Zuckerberg joked that he might need to schedule his next appearance to apologize for whatever he was about to say.
However, he quickly clarified that he was kidding.
He then added that, in fact, his days of apologizing for censorship are behind him.
The billionaire Meta founder has spent considerable time apologizing for the platform’s content moderation issues and censorship of conservatives.
As he reflected on the biggest mistakes of his career, Zuckerberg cited a “20-year political miscalculation” as his largest error.
He suggested that he had taken too much responsibility for problems allegedly beyond Facebook’s control.
“Some of the things they were asserting that we were doing or were responsible for, I don’t actually think we were,” Zuckerberg said.
He then argued that, if people are being censored due to their political views, then they only have themselves to blame for believing in wrongthink.
Zuckerberg claims to have found the right balance on political issues.
In August, he sent a letter to House Republicans apologizing for censoring Covid information in 2020.
He also admitted to bending to demands to censor the American people from the Biden-Harris administration.
Zuckerberg expressed regret for not being more vocal about government pressure at the time and vowed to “push back” if similar situations arise in the future.
Meanwhile, Facebook and Instagram have lifted all special restrictions on Trump’s social media accounts.
Trump’s accounts were initially imposed after the protests at the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021.
These changes will not impact Trump’s accounts as the 2024 election approaches.
However, Facebook has become increasingly irrelevant as a social media platform in recent years and people have shifted to alternatives such as TikTok, Trump’s Trusth Social, and Elon Musk’s pro-free speech X.
In July, while stopping short of endorsing a specific presidential candidate, Zuckerberg admitted he was impressed by President Trump’s response to the failed attempt on his life in July.
He referred to Trump as a “badass” for raising his fist after the assassination attempt.
During the event, Zuckerberg emphasized his excitement for projects beyond social media.
He described Meta as a “human connection” company at its core.
He acknowledged that no one wakes up eager for social media.
However, he instead wants to create more “awesome” products, likely referring to Meta’s AR glasses, VR goggles, and open-source AI efforts.
When pressed about whether he regrets renaming the company Meta, signaling a pivot towards the metaverse, Zuckerberg simply replied, “Meta is a good name.”
Despite his focus shifting, Meta’s content moderation issues will persist and the CEO will ultimately face consequential decisions.
