‘NO FIRM COMMITMENTS’

Al Sharpton Confronts Zuckerberg: Don’t Let 2020 Candidates Promote Lies on Facebook

Civil-rights leaders who were invited to the Facebook CEO’s house for a private dinner told him he was stoking potential voter suppression.

Al Sharpton reportedly had a “no-holds-barred meeting” with Mark Zuckerberg at the Facebook CEO’s home Monday, where the civil-rights leader expressed concern over the company’s decision not to fact-check ads from politicians ahead of the 2020 election. Sharpton said the meeting lasted nearly two hours at Zuckerberg’s Palo Alto home, and was also attended by Facebook’s COO Sheryl Sandberg. “We told him that we feel that the exemption for politicians could be used to suppress voting, give wrong messaging, and could suppress Census taking,” Sharpton told Reuters. “[Zuckerberg] listened... He made no firm commitments of change but he seemed open.” Facebook confirmed Sharpton and other civil-rights leaders attended the dinner with Zuckerberg and Sandberg, and said they “discussed a range of important issues.” Facebook employees wrote a letter to Zuckerberg last week condemning the decision to allow politicians to promote misleading claims ahead of 2020.