'What responsibility does Facebook have to help prevent President Trump in 2017?' was a question raised by Facebook employees as part of a weekly Q&A posed to CEO, Mark Zuckerberg.
The internal poll saw the question ranked fifth with 61 votes, according to Gizmodo.
It is unsurprising that employees are turning to their CEO for guidance on the Trump issue, with a recent speech at the company’s annual F8 developer conference indirectly highlighting Zuckerberg’s views on the president-in-running.
“I hear fearful voices calling for building walls and distancing people they label as ‘others',” Zuckerberg said. “I hear them calling for blocking free expression, for slowing immigration, for reducing trade, and in some cases, even for cutting access to the internet.”
With the power to prohibit or promote all Trump news to over one billion Facebook users, Zuckerberg could tamper with the social media sphere of politics – a highly important sphere in which users share political views and news.
“Facebook has the same First Amendment right as the New York Times. They can completely block Trump if they want. They block him or promote him,” according to UCLA law professor Eugene Volokh, who spoke to Gizmodo.
Recent reports have also shown that politicians have invested in and used the site as part of their campaign.
In 2010, Facebook used its power in politics to see if they could influence voting behaviors of 61 million Americans as a social experiment.
However, in statement to The Hill, Facebook said they won’t be interfering in the political debate: “Voting is a core value of democracy and we believe that supporting civic participation is an important contribution we can make to the community. We encourage any and all candidates, groups, and voters to use our platform to share their views on the election and debate the issues. We as a company are neutral – we have not and will not use our products in a way that attempts to influence how people vote.”
