Faceboook's company-wide employee Q&A starts now. Some top questions:
-Facebook's brand has become toxic. How can we improve it?
-What could we have done better with the WhatsApp changes rollout?
-Why are journalists still able to find Stop The Steal groups with 10k members?

Zuckerberg spent the start of today's meeting complimenting Biden and the transition of power. "No matter where you are on the political spectrum, I hope that we can all be rooting for his success," he says.

He called the executive orders signed yesterday as "positive steps."

Zuckerberg today said he looks forward to working with the Biden administration, starting with Covid response.

Biden in Jan 2020 to the NYT: “I’ve never been a big Zuckerberg fan. I think he’s a real problem.” https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2020/01/17/opinion/joe-biden-nytimes-interview.html

The first three speakers were VP Nick Clegg, who spoke about the decision to refer Trump's account to the Oversight board; WhatsApp head Will Cathcart, who spoke about the company's screw up unveiling its new privacy policy; and new VP of civil rights Roy Austin.

Zuckerberg answering the question about Facebook's brand problem: "There is a natural buoyancy to our brand... but there isn't negative stuff being written about about the company every single day."

Uhhhhhhhhhhhhh

Zuckerberg, continued: "You know, a lot of our employees are in the US, where our brand is, has some of the most challenges. But you know, in a number of other countries around the world, our brand is, you know, in the top 10% of all brands."

Zuck: "I'm somewhat hopeful that in the new administration... that if the calls for unity work, and the temperature in the country can come down a bit... that would be positive not just for us but for the whole country."

(The FTC and 48 attorneys general are currently suing FB.)

Zuckerberg on WhatsApp issues: "WhatsApp is
incredibly strong on the dimensions of privacy and security."

He says WA is not only E2E encrypted but will also be moving toward a standard where messages disappear after 7 days. He says WA excels beyond "the other apps out there."

Asked about his vision for Facebook's main blue app in future years, Zuckerberg said, "[Facebook] is very important for helping to rebuild the social fabric in our country and around the world."

Zuckerberg: "One of the ways that I think that we can contribute in a very important way to the world right now is helping people join and become a part of groups that are very meaningful to them."

He says FB has a responsibility to make sure groups are "healthy and positive," and mentions the co stopped recommending political groups in recent months and will continue to do so.

That's verifiably untrue. @themarkup had a story on it two days ago: https://themarkup.org/citizen-browser/2021/01/19/facebook-said-it-would-stop-pushing-users-to-join-partisan-political-groups-it-didnt

In closing, Zuckerberg talked about COVID mutations and why he has no bookshelf in his video conferencing shot, then allows Clegg to discuss the Oversight Board more. He did not address the question about the Stop The Steal groups and why journalists are doing content moderation.

Zuckerberg also gave a shoutout to former FB board member Jeff Zients, who is the incoming White House COVID-19 coordinator. Zuckerberg says he has full confidence in his former board member's leadership. Another meaningful connection to the Biden admin. https://www.theverge.com/2020/12/4/22152631/jeffrey-zients-biden-white-house-facebook-board-member-transition

That's all I got from the meeting.

I think it's important to hear what one of the world's most powerful people tells his employees. Deliberate or not, some of his statements, like the one about political group recommendations, are untrue and mislead.

Another example, Facebook said it would be pausing gun accessory and body armor ads in the lead up to the inauguration after our reporting: https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/ryanmac/facebook-pauses-ads-for-gun-accessories-and-military-gear

It did not. Here is one ad from Tuesday.

The political group recommendations and gun accessory ads are just examples from this week. FB claims it will take action, but time and time again does not completely follow through. Begs the question: Will Zuckerberg ever get a handle on a platform that serves 2 billion people?