Facebook, internet platforms, shouldn't be 'arbiters of truth' - Zuckerberg

Facebook Inc's Chief Executive Officer Mark Zuckerberg on Thursday (May 28), said it was not up to internet platforms to parse truth from fiction.

Zuckerberg made the comments on CNBC's "Squawk Box."

"I think we've been pretty clear on what I think the right approach is - which is that I don't think that Facebook or internet platforms, in general, should be arbiters of truth. I think that's kind of a dangerous line to get down to, in terms of deciding what is true and what isn't. And I think political speech is one of the most sensitive parts of a democracy," he told anchor Andrew Ross Sorkin in a remote interview.

Zuckerberg said Facebook has a robust fact-checking program to curb the viral spread of hoaxes, and that the company would take down information that could harm users' health or suppress voter turnout.

"We had a case recently where the Brazilian president was saying that hydroxychloroquine was proven by science to be safe. And we had to make the difficult decision of taking that down," Zuckerberg said. "So, there are lines, and we will enforce them. But I think in general you want to give as wide of a voice possible. And I think you want to have a special deference to political speech."

US President Donald Trump signed an executive order aimed at curbing liability protections for social media companies.

News of the proposed executive order came after Trump attacked Twitter for tagging the president's tweets about unsubstantiated claims of fraud in mail-in voting with a warning prompting readers to fact-check the posts.

In an interview with Fox on Wednesday (May 27), Zuckerberg said censoring a platform would not be the "right reflex" for a government worried about censorship.