Mark Zuckerberg Dismisses Mike Allen Bemoaning Conservatives on Facebook: ‘Their Experiences Weren’t Being Covered by Media’

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg punched back at claims by Mike Allen that conservative voices are too strong on Facebook, telling the Axios editor-in-chief that conservatives were simply using the platform to give expression to ideas that “weren’t being covered by traditional media.”

“Every indication is that the Facebook platform is helping President Trump win again,” Allen asked Zuckerberg in an interview released Wednesday. “Certainly, his team will tell you that. it’s not about intent. It’s about how they use the product.”

Zuckerberg suggested Republicans were simply using the platform more effectively.

“I actually think, across the spectrum, this is not a Republican thing or a Democratic thing,” he said. “I think that some people are more sophisticated and just authentic or natural on the internet and social media than others. But overall, I do think that social media allows everyone to have a voice, including people who might’ve not been able to get their message out through a lot of the traditional media. That’s not necessarily a partisan point.”

Allen acknowledged that Facebook served former President Barack Obama over the course of his two presidential campaigns, but said he found it problematic that President Donald Trump and other conservatives have flipped the table in more recent years — and asked what Zuckerberg’s friends thought about that dynamic.

“You’re right that it’s not partisan,” Allen said. “President Obama very effectively leveraged Facebook for two elections. But now that’s flipped. And now Facebook, the reality is, is a real right-wing echo chamber. If you look at some of the loudest voices on Facebook, it’s Breitbart, it’s Sarah Palin, it’s Franklin Graham, and that part of the spectrum has figured out Facebook in this moment. Your liberal friends must hate it.”

Zuckerberg responded: “Well, look. I think your characterization, frankly, is just wrong. I don’t think that the service is a right-wing echo chamber, to use your words. I think that, you know, everyone can use their voice, and can find media that they trust that reflects the opinions and life experiences that they were having. Some people had found, before, that their experiences weren’t being covered by traditional media, and now are able to find voices and follow them that resonate more with their life experience. It’s not clear to me that’s a bad thing.”

Watch above via HBO Axios.