Mark Zuckerberg Calls Facebook ‘Platform for All Ideas’ After Meeting With Conservatives

After meeting with leading conservatives on Wednesday to discuss allegations of anti-conservative bias at Facebook, company CEO Mark Zuckerberg emphasized the important impact conservatives and Republicans have had on the site and within the company.

“Silicon Valley has a reputation for being liberal,” Zuckerberg wrote in a Facebook post on Wednesday. “But the Facebook community includes more than 1.6 billion people of every background and ideology — from liberal to conservative and everything in between.”

His comments followed a meeting with a dozen leading conservatives at Facebook’s offices, where Zuckerberg said they discussed how to make sure the site “continues to be a platform for all ideas across the political spectrum.” A report published by Gizmodo suggested some of the site’s contractors had prevented some conservative stories from appearing in the “Trending Topics” section. Republican leaders quickly criticized the findings and called for an explanation.

Conservative pundit Glenn Beck was among those at the meeting. Politico reported that others included Barry Bennett, a top adviser to Donald Trump; Zac Moffatt, a digital adviser to Mitt Romney in 2012; former Republican Sen. Jim DeMint, who is president of the Heritage Foundation; Daily Caller editor-in-chief and Fox News contributor Tucker Carlson; and American Enterprise Institute President Arthur Brooks.

“The reality is, conservatives and Republicans have always been an important part of Facebook,” Zuckerberg wrote in the post. “Donald Trump has more fans on Facebook than any other presidential candidate. And Fox News drives more interactions on its Facebook page than any other news outlet in the world. It’s not even close. Still, I know many conservatives don’t trust that our platform surfaces content without a political bias. I wanted to hear their concerns personally and have an open conversation about how we can build trust. I want to do everything I can to make sure our teams uphold the integrity of our products.”