At Facebook’s recent shareholder meeting, CEO Mark Zuckerberg again faced allegations that the platform is inherently biased by the prevailing liberal ideology at its California headquarters.
While he has previously acknowledged the partisan proclivity among a majority of Silicon Valley residents, Zuckerberg challenged the perception of one attendee during Thursday’s meeting in Menlo Park.
Justin Danhof, director of the conservative think tank Free Enterprise Project, addressed the issue of political bias when given the opportunity to question the tech giant’s founder.
In prepared remarks before arriving at his question, Danhof referenced Zuckerberg’s comments that day and his testimony earlier this year before Congress in arguing that partisan bias is inevitable within the company.
“You mentioned you have 20,000 or so employees working on content,” he said. “You stated before Congress that you don’t know the politics of those individuals and that politics plays no role in hiring decisions here at Facebook. However, you also said that you were well aware that Silicon Valley is primarily populated by liberals.”
Citing the CEO’s suggestion that he “tried to make sure (political bias among employees) does not affect their work,” Danhof asked how Zuckerberg could be aware of such biases without also knowing their politics.
“You also said politics plays no role in what content these individuals decide to remove,” he said. “I just don’t see how all those things can be true at the same time.”
Danhof went on to reference a 2016 Gizmodo report citing multiple sources who described an atmosphere in which conservative content was occasionally suppressed.
“Silicon Valley elites often preen about commitments to diversity and inclusion, but I don’t think many of you know what that means,” he told Facebook executives. “Diversity isn’t what someone looks like. It’s the sum of what they think, feel and believe. Perhaps you should consider actually talking with employees and potential hires about their politics.”