REIN IN HATE, SCIENTISTS TELL FB CEO

‘SHOULD NOT LET TRUMP USE PLATFORM TO SPREAD MISINFORMATION’

BOSTON :Dozens of scientists doing research funded by Mark Zuckerberg say Facebook should not be letting President Donald Trump use the social media platform to “spread both misinformation and incendiary statements.”

The researchers, including 60 professors at leading US research institutions, wrote the Facebook CEO on Saturday asking Zuckerberg to “consider stricter policies on misinformation and incendiary language that harms people,” especially during the current turmoil over racial injustice.

The letter calls the spread of “deliberate misinformation and divisive language” contrary to the researchers’ goals of using technology to prevent and eradicate disease, improve childhood education and reform the criminal justice system.

Their mission “is antithetical to some of the stances that Facebook has been taking, so we’re encouraging them to be more on the side of truth and on the right side of history as we’ve said in the letter,” said Debora Marks of Harvard Medical School, one of three professors who organized it. All have grants from a Chan Zuckerberg Initiative programme working to prevent, cure and treat neurodegenerative disorders including Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s disease.