Screenwriter Aaron Sorkin took a swipe at Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg for allegedly not “defending free speech,” instead “assaulting truth.”
Sorkin, who was the screenwriter of the “The Social Network” movie about Zuckerberg and Facebook, in an op-ed published by The New York Times pushed back against Facebook’s controversial political advertisement policy.
He wrote:
“I admire your deep belief in free speech. I get a lot of use out of the First Amendment. Most important, it’s a bedrock of our democracy and it needs to be kept strong. But this can’t possibly be the outcome you and I want, to have crazy lies pumped into the water supply that corrupt the most important decisions we make together. Lies that have a very real and incredibly dangerous effect on our elections and our lives and our children’s lives.”
Citing an advertisement about former Vice President Joe Biden on Facebook posted by President Donald Trump’s 2020 re-election campaign, Sorkin said, “That’s not defending free speech, Mark, that’s assaulting truth.”
Sorkin added, “You and I want speech protections to make sure no one gets imprisoned or killed for saying or writing something unpopular, not to ensure that lies have unfettered access to the American electorate.”
Zuckerberg didn’t stay silent on Sorkin’s remarks, as he took a shot back by posting a quote from “The Social Network” on Facebook.
Facebook has found itself facing questions from top politicians on if they will follow in Twitter’s footsteps in banning all political advertisements.
Facebook’s policy is that politicians are “generally not subjected to fact-checking” on the platform. This excludes former politicians and officials.
Zuckerberg, however, defended his company’s policy, as he wrote in a Facebook post, “In a democracy, I don’t think it’s right for private companies to censor politicians or the news. And although I’ve considered whether we should not carry these ads in the past, and I’ll continue to do so, on balance so far I’ve thought we should continue.”
Meanwhile, Twitter’s CEO Jack Dorsey announced on Wednesday that the social media platform would not allow any policial advertisements globally. Twitter will lay out the new policy on November 15 and the ban will start November 22.
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