Private Firms Shouldn’t Censor Politicians, News: Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg

Defending Facebook's policy of not removing political advertisements containing false information, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg has said that a private company should not be censoring politicians and news.

Challenged on CBS over the policy, Zuckerberg said "people should be able to judge for themselves the character of politicians".

The policy has faced criticism from several quarters due to concerns that ads containing false information may spread misinformation and distort elections.

"What I believe is that in a democracy, it's really important that people can see for themselves what politicians are saying, so they can make their own judgments," the Facebook CEO was quoted as saying.

While demands for reconsidering the policy emanated even from within the organisation, Zuckerberg did not commit to any changes.

While Twitter has banned all political ads, Google last month announced new restrictions on such ads.

The Internet search giant put new limits on political advertisers globally from micro-targeting users via election ads based on their political affiliation.

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The main formats Google offers political advertisers are Search ads, YouTube ads and display ads. Under the new rules, political advertisers may target their ads only down to the postal code level.

Facebook recently allowed US President Donald Trump's campaign office to post a fake ad about Democrat presidential hopeful Joe Biden on its platform. (IANS)