Zuckerberg meets Trump, refuses to split FB empire
Washington, Sept. 20: Facebook chief executive Mark Zuckerberg met US President Donald Trump and members of Congress on Thursday in a political reconnaissance mission to Washington, where he rejected calls to break up the world’s biggest social network.
Zuckerberg’s visit comes as Facebook faces a myriad of regulatory and legal questions surrounding issues like competition, digital privacy, censorship and transparency in political advertising.
A Facebook spokesman said discussions were focusing in part on future internet regulation.
Senate Democrat Mark Warner, one of the lawmakers who has taken the lead in Washington on digital security, signalled they gave Zuckerberg an earful.
The visit, including a Wednesday night private dinner with Warner and other lawmakers, comes after his stormy appearance last year before Congress, where he was grilled on Facebook’s
data protection and privacy missteps.
Senator Josh Hawley, a Republican freshman and one of the more outspoken critics of Facebook, said he had a “frank conversation” with Zucke-rberg but remains concerned.
“Challenged him to do two things to show FB is serious about bias, privacy & competition. 1) Sell WhatsApp & Instagram 2) Submit to independent, third-party audit on censorship,” Hawley tweeted.
“He said no to both.” Trump late on Thursday posted a picture on Face-book and Twitter showing him shaking hands with Zuckerberg, but didn’t share details of their conversation.