How tech encoded the culture wars

Is it time for big tech to take responsibility for what is said on their platforms?

Cutouts of Mark Zuckerberg.
(Image credit: REUTERS/Leah Millis)

He zucked up.

Asked this week to explain why hoax site Infowars was still allowed to post to Facebook, CEO Mark Zuckerberg told Recode's Kara Swisher that the company had to give users leeway because it's difficult to impugn intent. Things took a left turn, however, when Zuckerberg used Holocaust deniers as an example, suggesting that it wasn't the platform's place to determine whether such people really intend to mislead. The blowback was fierce and immediate enough that the Facebook CEO was forced to issue a clarification only a few hours after his interview was published.

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE
https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/flexiimages/jacafc5zvs1692883516.jpg

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up
To continue reading this article...
Continue reading this article and get limited website access each month.
Get unlimited website access, exclusive newsletters plus much more.
Cancel or pause at any time.
Already a subscriber to The Week?
Not sure which email you used for your subscription? Contact us
Navneet Alang

Navneet Alang is a technology and culture writer based out of Toronto. His work has appeared in The Atlantic, New Republic, Globe and Mail, and Hazlitt.