Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg said he believes in the idea of healthy competition and making sure “the playing field is level for everyone,” in a prepared statement he plans to deliver to federal lawmakers on Wednesday.
“Our story would not have been possible without American laws that foster competition and innovation,” he said in a statement obtained by Fox News from someone close to the hearing process. “I think a strong and consistent competition policy is vital because it ensures that the playing field is level for everyone. At Facebook, we compete a lot, because we face other smart and innovative companies that are determined to win.”
A House of Representatives antitrust subcommittee was established to question Jeff Bezos of Amazon, Tim Cook of Apple, Sundar Pichai of Google and Zuckerberg on Monday, but the hearing was delayed due to a memorial service for the late representative John Lewis, D -Ga.
Zuckerberg admitted that the size of the tech industry should be a cause for concern, saying companies like his should not make major decisions about national policy.
“I understand that people are concerned about the size and perceived power that technology companies have,” he continued. “Ultimately, I think companies shouldn’t be making as many judgments on important issues like harmful content, privacy, and the integrity of elections on their own. That’s why I have called for a more active role for governments and regulators. and Updated Internet Rules If we do this right, we can preserve the best of this technology: the freedom for people to connect and express themselves and for entrepreneurs to build new things, while protecting society from broader harm. “
COLORADO REP. KEN BUCK SAYS THE LARGE AUDIENCE OF THE TECHNOLOGY CEO WILL COVER BIAS PRIVACY, ANTIBODIES AND ALLEGATIONS
The tech industry leader then discusses censorship and removal of certain content from online platforms, if they qualify as “harmful.”
“We have built sophisticated systems to find and remove harmful content,” he explained. “We are funding new technologies to deal with emerging threats, such as deep counterfeiting. And we are creating products to connect people to authoritative information, such as our recently released COVID-19 and voter information centers.”
Zuckerberg defended Facebook for connecting citizens with World Health Organization (WHO) and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) coronavirus statistics, while deleting all data or stories deemed to be “misinformation” regarding COVID-19.
It also announced a new “symptom survey” of the Facebook coronavirus, which would take personal health data shared by users and combine it with location information, to discover “where it is appropriate to reverse social distancing orders.”
“We connect people to authorized health information and are taking aggressive steps to prevent misinformation related to COVID-19 and harmful content from spreading,” he wrote. “In January, we began displaying educational pop-ups on Facebook and Instagram that connected people to authorized COVID-19-related information from organizations such as the CDC, regional health authorities, and the WHO.
“We are also using data in new ways to inform the public health response,” continued Zuckerberg. “We partnered with Carnegie Mellon University to launch a COVID-19 Symptom Survey that can help researchers predict the spread of the disease. With millions of responses, researchers can get a much more detailed picture of the pandemic. Also We contributed anonymously by adding location data to the COVID-19 Mobility Data Network, a group of 40 health researchers whose work helps governments determine whether and where appropriate to reverse social distancing orders. “
CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP
Facebook has a responsibility to prevent people from interfering with online COVID conversations and is tasked with helping to eliminate voter repression and hate speech, he said.
“I understand the concerns that people have in these areas, and we are working to address them,” he said. “As we move forward, for example, we have dramatically improved our ability to proactively search for and remove harmful content and avoid electoral interference, I recognize that we have more to do.”
Rep. Ken Buck, R-Colorado, told Fox News about the hearing’s agenda and said, “There are three issues that we are going to discuss at this hearing. One is the anti-competitive behavior of these platforms. The second is the problem of privacy and the third is the bias in which some of these platforms participate. “
