Aaron Sorkin Botches Key Details In NYT Op-Ed Scolding Zuckerberg for Free Speech Stand

Aaron Sorkin, screenwriter of the critical Mark Zuckerberg biography The Social Network, took aim at the Facebook CEO over free speech in a New York Times op-ed written Thursday, but made a number of factual errors which resulted in a correction from the paper.

Sorkins main issue stemmed from Zuckerbergs speech earlier this month at Georgetown and comments made to the Washington Post, in which he defended Facebooks policy of allowing political campaigns to run advertisements, even if they contain misleading or false information.

Forty four percent of Americans report having accessed news on Facebook, according to a Pew Research poll, but there is no evidence that half of Americans consider Facebook their primary source for news.

Sorkin also incorrectly stated that billionaire tech mogul Peter Thiel sued now-defunct news site Gawker for defamation, when Thiel sued Gawker for invasion of privacy.

In response to requests to amend the errors, the Times ultimately posted a lengthy correction accompanying Sorkins op-ed.

In response to Sorkins accusations, Zuckerberg posted a quote from Sorkins 1995 film The American President on Facebook.

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