Social Media Not Arbiter of Truth: Zuckerberg on Trump-Twitter Row

Trump threatened Twitter for tagging two of his tweets on mail-in voting with a fact-checking warning label.

Mark Zuckerberg speaks at the European Parliament.

(Photo: AP)

Criticising Twitter for flagging tweets by US President Donald Trump, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg has said that social media companies should not be the arbiter of truth.

US President Donald Trump on Wednesday threatened Twitter with “big action” for tagging two of his tweets on mail-in voting with a fact-checking warning label.

In an interview with Fox News, Zuckerberg called out his social media rival, saying Twitter should not be fact-checking Trump.

“I just believe strongly that Facebook shouldn’t be the arbiter of truth of everything that people say online,” he told the interviewer.

“We have a different policy than Twitter on this. Private companies probably shouldn't be, especially these platform companies, shouldn't be in the position of doing that,” he added.

Zuckerberg also said Trump should not retaliate against social media companies.

“In general, I think a government choosing to censor a platform because they're worried about censorship doesn't exactly strike me as the right reflex," said the Facebook CEO.

After Twitter flagged his tweets for fact check, Trump threatened to "strongly regulate" or close down social media companies that attempt to "silence conservative voices".

Meanwhile, The Verge reported that The White House set its sights on a single Twitter employee after the company attached a fact-checking link to president's tweets "containing lies and misinformation related to voter fraud".

Trump advisor Kellyanne Conway targeted Twitter's head of site integrity, Yoel Roth, on Fox News after finding some tweets that were critical of Trump and the US administration.

"Somebody in San Francisco go wake him up and tell him he's about to get a lot more followers," Conway was quoted as saying.

Trump supporters shared screenshots of some Roth tweets on social media, slamming him.

Twitter said: “No one person at Twitter is responsible for our policies or enforcement actions, and it’s unfortunate to see individual employees targeted for company decisions”.

It was the first time Twitter fact-checked Trump's tweets.

"Twitter has now shown that everything we have been saying about them (and their other compatriots) is correct. Big action to follow!" Trump tweeted.

Before threatening the microblogging platform, Trump also accused Twitter of "interfering in the 2020 Presidential Election".

"They are saying my statement on Mail-In Ballots, which will lead to massive corruption and fraud, is incorrect, based on fact-checking by Fake News CNN and the Amazon Washington Post," he said.