Zuckerberg Tries Striking a Deal that Censors the Chinese People

Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg is trying to get into the Chinese social media network. The New York Times reports:

The social network has quietly developed software to suppress posts from appearing in people’s news feeds in specific geographic areas, according to three current and former Facebook employees, who asked for anonymity because the tool is confidential. The feature was created to help Facebook get into China, a market where the social network has been blocked, these people said. Mr. Zuckerberg has supported and defended the effort, the people added.

Facebook says that this will suppress posts not being made, but keep them from showing up in certain geographic areas, namely China. The software would be given to a third party company, most likely a Chinese one, which would be deciding what posts do or do not show up in users Facebook feed.

Current and former employees say that many projects do not see fruition and this software may never become used in China. However, this shows the extent that Zuckerberg will go to for Facebook to be in China. Implementing that sort of software would essentially make Facebook a propaganda machine for the Chinese government. This is right on the heels of Facebook being accused of procuring “fake news” in users Facebook feeds during the recent American presidential election.