Facebook’s global head of news partnerships Campbell Brown has defended the social media giant’s support of publishers while speaking to Australian media.
In the country to speak with publishers about Facebook’s new initiatives to protect publishers, Brown said the social media giant is “making a lot of progress” while speaking to The Sydney Morning Herald.
“We want to get to a place where journalism not just survives, but thrives. I want publishers to succeed,” she said.
“This is hard, to strike this balance between something we care about deeply, freedom of expression and keeping our community safe.”
She added, “We are going to make mistakes. [But] to have free speech, you are going to have to tolerate a lot of the bad speech.”
According to SMH, Brown will be speaking to News Corp and Fairfax about how the social media giant is promising to support publishers while in the country.
“I see this as an opportunity to talk to them about the work we are doing [to help publishers]”
“I’m happy to be as transparent with them as possible,” she told the paper.
Brown and her team will also be meeting with the ACCC in Melbourne while in the country, coinciding with the commission’s ongoing inquiry into digital platforms.
Brown also defended Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg, Brown said the CEO is taking the regulation of fake news and conspiracy theories on the social media giant very seriously.
“Mark [Zuckerberg] is an incredibly curious person, and really curious about the news business,” speaking with SMH.
“He is super engaged on this issue because it has such importance…how critical journalism is to democracy. It’s something he is passionate about.”
