Meta chief Mark Zuckerberg wants to play an “active role” in shaping technology regulations under President-elect Donald Trump’s administration, the social media giant’s top policy executive said.
Nick Clegg, Meta’s head of global affairs, also admitted that parent Facebook and Instagram “went a bit too far” while moderating pandemic-related content.
Zuckerberg is aiming to have “an active role in the debates that any administration should have about maintaining America’s leadership in technology,” Clegg said during a press conference on Monday, according to the Financial Times.
US leadership on technology issues “is extremely important given all the geostrategic uncertainties around the world, and especially the key role that AI will play,” Clegg added.
Clegg’s mea culpa is the latest sign that Meta wants to cozy up to Trump – who has previously called Facebook “the enemy of the people” and criticized its billionaire founder for censoring conservative views.
Last week, Zuckerberg dined with Trump at Mar-a-Lago after he reportedly requested a meeting with the president-elect to discuss “the next administration.” Afterward, Meta said Zuckerberg was “grateful for the invitation.”
Zuckerberg wants Meta’s efforts “to improve the accuracy and precision with which we operate under our rules” to be “an area of continued focus” at the company, according to Clegg.
“We are very aware – because users rightly spoke up and complained about it – that we sometimes over-enforce, make mistakes and remove or restrict harmless or innocent content,” Clegg said.
Trump has said he opposed the idea of banning China-owned TikTok, in part because it would make Facebook bigger.
Trump and his allies had targeted Meta since July, accusing the company of suppressing information about the attempted assassination of the then-presidential candidate at a July 13 rally.
In August, Zuckerberg shocked the tech industry by admitting that the Biden administration had pressured Facebook to censor content related to COVID-19 in 2021 — including memes and satirical posts.
Zuckerberg made the admission in a letter to House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan (R-Ohio).
The Facebook founder has also acknowledged that the company was wrong to censor The Post’s exclusive reporting on Hunter Biden’s laptop in the past.
The advances have come even as Meta is engaged in fierce competition with Google and Microsoft-backed OpenAI to develop advanced artificial intelligence tools. Unlike its rivals, Meta supports an “open source” approach to AI.
Another key figure seeking influence on AI policy is X owner Elon Musk, who has emerged as a key adviser to Trump and has clashed frequently with Zuckerberg over the years.
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