San Francisco: Billionaire philanthropist George Soros on Tuesday called for the removal of Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg and COO Shreyl Sandberg over the company’s policy on political ads in the US presidential election year.
In a letter to The Financial Times, Soros said that it is time for both to go.
“The company doesn’t need to wait for regulations to stop accepting political ads until after the November election,” said Soros.
He pointed towards “some kind of mutual assistance arrangement with Donald Trump” that would help him get re-elected.
Facebook is yet to comment on the matter.
Unlike Twitter, which has completely banned political ads, Facebook has said it will show fewer political ads to people on its platform and Instagram, but won’t ban those.
This is not the first time Soros has levelled such allegations against Facebook.
Facebook last month refuted allegations by Soros that there is a special relationship between the social networking giant and Trump.
Soros had slammed Facebook at Davos, accusing the social networking giant of helping to re-elect Trump in the 2020 US elections.
“While we respect Mr. Soros’ right to voice his opinion, he’s wrong,” Facebook had said in a statement.
“The notion that we are aligned with any one political figure or party runs counter to our values and the facts. We continue making unprecedented investments to keep our platform safe, fight foreign interference in elections around the world, and combat misinformation,” Facebook had said.
Soros again reiterated his comments in an opinion piece in The New York Times.
“Facebook will help President Trump to get re-elected and Mr. Trump will, in turn, defend Facebook against attacks from regulators and the media,” he alleged.
