SAN FRANCISCO – Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg tried to clarify his controversial comments on Holocaust deniers Wednesday afternoon, after he was quoted earlier in the day saying some deniers who post on Facebook aren’t “intentionally getting it wrong.”
Zuckerberg made his comments during an interview with ReCode’s Kara Swisher, published Wednesday morning. During the interiew, he cited Holocaust denials as an example of controversial misinformation that Facebook would allow to remain on the platform. Facebook has said that it allows conspiracy theories to remain on the site, but limits their reach so fewer people see them.
“At the end of the day, I don’t believe that our platform should take that down because I think there are things that different people get wrong,” Zuckerberg told Swisher. “I don’t think that they’re intentionally getting it wrong.”
He went on to compare conspiracy theories to people who simply misspeak.
“It’s hard to impugn intent and to understand the intent. I just think, as abhorrent as some of those examples are, I think the reality is also that I get things wrong when I speak publicly,” he said prophetically.
After the comments were widely panned on social media and in the press, Zuckerberg emailed Swisher to say he got things wrong.
“I personally find Holocaust denial deeply offensive, and I absolutely didn’t intend to defend the intent of people who deny that,” said Zuckerberg.
