Mark Zuckerberg, founder, chairman, and CEO of Facebook, shared his thoughts yesterday on the place Islamophobia has on the billion-person-strong social network. (That is: there is no place for it.) In the process, he described himself as “the leader of Facebook.” Haha, what?

“As a Jew, my parents taught me that we must stand up against attacks on all communities,” he wrote. “Even if an attack isn’t against you today, in time attacks on freedom for anyone will hurt everyone.”

“If you’re a Muslim in this community, as the leader of Facebook I want you to know that you are always welcome here and that we will fight to protect your rights and create a peaceful and safe environment for you.”

There is no more reason to doubt Zuckerberg’s sincerity here than there was regarding his fraudulent philanthropy, although to whatever extent this sentiment is sincere it is also frighteningly naive.

That having been said, As the leader of Facebook is a very weird way for Zuckerberg to position himself in relation to the site and its users! Especially so as Election 2016—which will no doubt come to be seen as having been influenced by Facebook in an unprecedented way—is already dominating our news cycles, in no small part thanks to a terrifying demagogue who is either a cynical genius or an unhinged madman. So. In whose interests does the leader of Facebook act? Were the, uhh, people of Facebook aware that they had a leader? How long has he been leading us? And...where?

Also: “In the past, Mr. Zuckerberg had mainly used his personal Facebook page for product announcements,” the New York Times reported. “But he has shown a new level of openness since July, when he announced that he and Dr. Chan were expecting a baby.” What’s the difference??? LOL. But seriously folks. The leader of Facebook.

Update 8:25 pm – And then there’s this! From BuzzFeed News:

Asked if Trump would be removed from the platform for political speech that arguably fits Facebook’s definition of hate speech, a Facebook spokesperson responded:

“When we review reports of content that may violate our policies, we take context into consideration. That context can include the value of political discourse. Many people are voicing opinions about this particular content and it has become an important part of the conversation around who the next U.S. president will be. For those reasons, we are carefully reviewing each report and surrounding context relating to this content on a case by case basis.”

Everything is going to be fine.


Photo via AP Images. Contact the author of this post: brendan.oconnor@gawker.com.