Facebook founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg has reportedly been meeting in secret with conservatives including Tucker Carlson and Ben Shapiro.
The report comes from Politico, which claims the meetings started back in July and are part of Zuckerberg's efforts to make nice with Republicans over their ongoing accusations that social media companies are suppressing conservative speech.
Other conservatives reportedly wining and dining with Zuckerberg were Sen. Lindsey Graham and conservative radio host Hugh Hewitt.
There's also a greater-than-average chance Zuckerberg is hoping to make nice with lawmakers as Facebook faces multiple investigations, from state-level antitrust cases to an FTC probe. Oh yes, and Congress wants private documents, competitors are spilling the tea, and President Donald Trump has threatened the company.
But in a statement posted to Facebook on Monday afternoon, Zuckerberg swore it's all about, like, expanding your own worldview, maaaaaan.
Facebook has an up and down relationship with conservatives. In 2016, Republicans were incensed over a story that said conservative news stories were suppressed in the platform's "trending stories" feature. But Facebook also let Trump say things that violated its terms of service in order to win the love of conservatives.
These recently revealed talks are also interesting as Facebook comes under fire from 2020 Democratic presidential hopeful Elizabeth Warren, who has been sparring with Facebook for months.
After the billboards, fake ads, and his promise to fight Warren's anti-trust efforts, it seems that Zuckerberg may be dining with conservatives, but Warren is the one taking up space in his head.
Given the way Facebook has royally screwed up everything about how it's handled politics — from being infiltrated by Russian ads in 2016 to the Cambridge Analytica scandal to its decision to let politicians say basically whatever the hell they want — there's no reason to believe Zuckerberg is acting in any sort of altruistic manner here.
We've reached out to Facebook for further comment but a spokesperson told Politico, “For years, Mark Zuckerberg has met with elected officials and thought leaders all across the political spectrum.”
UPDATE: Oct. 14, 2019, 4:08 p.m. EDT Updated to include Zuckerberg statement
