Mark Zuckerberg Relents, Sort Of Admits That Facebook Is A Media Company

In the past, Mark Zuckerberg has been adamant in his denial that his social media site Facebook was a media company. Instead, he preferred to use terms like “technology company” to describe the biggest social network in the world, which hosts a lot of media content. Now, it would seem that the tech billionaire is finally changing his tune and admits that Facebook is a media company, just not one in a traditional sense.

The slip happened during a conversation that Zuckerberg had with Facebook’s COO Sheryl Sandberg during a Live video call, USA Today reports. During the discussion, the two recapped all of the relevant events of 2016 as well as plans for the next year.

"Facebook is a new kind of platform," Zuckerberg told Sandberg. "It's not a traditional technology company. It's not a traditional media company. You know, we build technology and we feel responsible for how it's used. We don't write the news that people read on the platform, but at the same time we also know that we do a lot more than just distribute the news, and we're an important part of the public discourse."

Zuckerberg’s statement suggests that he does view Facebook as a media company of sorts, but not one that produces the content that is currently being criticized. Rather, it’s a technology company that hosts media content, which does implicate Facebook on the nature of said content, TechCrunch notes. This is exactly what the media has been saying all along and which Zuckerberg has been flatly denying.

On that note, there is a very important reason why the Facebook CEO is reluctant to label his creation as a media company. Based on how the law works, media companies bear a much bigger responsibility for the content that they produce. On the other hand, a technology company only has to face minimal liabilities.