Zuckerberg: Facebook must take action on policy violations by anyone, including officials and president
Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg joins Dana Perino on ‘The Daily Briefing.’
Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg told "The Daily Briefing" Thursday that he hopes Facebook will "find a way" to keep offering its services in Hong Kong after Secretary of State Mike Pompeo declared this week that the city was "no longer autonomous" from China.
"People across Hong Kong really love our services," Zuckerberg told host Dana Perino, noting that residents particularly appreciate the "encrypted" nature of Facebook's WhatsApp messaging service. "People use Facebook in order to stay in touch with their friends and family around the whole world, and I certainly hope that we'll find a way to keep offering the services over the long term."
Zuckerberg explained that China and North Korea are the two major countries where Facebook either does not or cannot offer their services due to what he called "pretty oppressive policies."
"The reality here," he added "... is that China has just approached the Internet very differently from the U.S. and even Europe and most other places."
The United Kingdom ceded Hong Kong to China in 1997 under the terms of a 1984 agreement which guaranteed that the former British colony would retain a "high degree of autonomy," a principle known as "One Country, Two Systems."
POMPEO DECLARES HONG KONG 'NO LONGER AUTONOMOUS'
This week, Pompeo declared that Chinese influence in Hong Kong had reached a breaking point with the imposition of a new national security law by Beijing.
"For all that is said about the conflict between the United States and China ideologically -- where I actually see this playing out is in a lot of other countries," Zuckerberg told Perino. "So right now, you have a lot of countries that are basically trying to figure out what values and what kind of rules they want in place for the Internet in their country, and I think right now there is a real battle of ideas."
Zuckerberg also reacted to President Trump's plans to sign an executive order that could seek to curb legal protections for social media companies after Twitter attached a "fact check" to some of his tweets Tuesday.
CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP
Fox News has confirmed that drafts of the executive order on social media would seek to curtail legal protections that shield social media companies from liability regarding what people post on their sites -- though the language is still in the works.
"We have a different policy than, I think, Twitter on this," Zuckerberg told Perino.
"I just believe strongly that Facebook shouldn't be the arbiter of truth of everything that people say online," he added. "Private companies probably shouldn't be, especially these platform companies, shouldn't be in the position of doing that."
"In general," Zuckerberg said later in the interview, "I think a government choosing to censor a platform because they're worried about censorship doesn't exactly strike me as the right reflex there."
Fox News' Adam Shaw and Yael Halon contributed to this report.
Fox News First
Get all the stories you need-to-know from the most powerful name in news delivered first thing every morning to your inbox.
By entering your email and clicking the Subscribe button, you agree to the Fox News Privacy Policy and Terms of Use, and agree to receive content and promotional communications from Fox News. You understand that you can opt-out at any time.