Zuckerberg: "Why US Media Distorts Reports... Trying to Paint a Wrong Image"

[Asia Economy Reporter Yujin Cho] Facebook, which is under intense scrutiny from the U.S. political sphere and media due to internal whistleblowing on unethical business practices, has launched a counterattack.

On the 25th (local time), according to CNN and others, Mark Zuckerberg, CEO, claimed during the Q3 earnings conference call that recent media reports based on leaked internal documents from whistleblowers are distorting the facts.

He said, "Constructive criticism helps us improve, but (the recent joint reports by media outlets) selectively cite leaked documents in an effort to paint a false image of our company."

This statement targeted the series of focused reports by a consortium of 17 U.S. media outlets, including CNN and The New York Times (NYT), criticizing Facebook’s issues based on hundreds of internal Facebook documents recently disclosed by former Facebook Chief Product Manager Frances Haugen, which caused a major stir.

He also argued that the problems Facebook faces are not unique to Facebook but reflect broader societal issues.

Zuckerberg said, "The problems revealed in the leaked documents are not limited to social media," adding, "This means that no matter what Facebook does, we alone cannot solve these problems."

He actively defended the company’s research efforts, stating that the studies on how their services might affect users are conducted to address these issues.

Zuckerberg also lamented that Facebook often faces situations where it must find a compromise between providing encryption and cooperating with law enforcement agencies.

Regarding this, he pointed out, "It’s easy to accuse us of prioritizing profit over finding the right solution, but the reality is that these issues mainly concern balancing different and difficult social values rather than just our business."

He went on to express pride in Facebook’s research efforts and emphasized, "We believe this will be better for our society and business in the long term, and we promise to continue this work going forward."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.