From toast of town to toxic: Facebook CEO on outs with Dems

But in the face of growing public outrage, the co-founder of the upstart born under the motto Move fast and break things is learning the art of smoothing over and piecing back together.

His new strategy: a personal blitz featuring serial private meetings in Washington with key lawmakers of both parties and President Donald Trump; small, off-the-record dinners at his California home with conservative journalists and opinion makers; and the occasional public address or TV interview.

Facebook, as well as Twitter and Google, refused in September to remove a misleading video ad from Trumps reelection campaign that targeted top-tier Democratic candidate Joe Biden. Elizabeth Warren, another top Democratic contender, chose to hit back by running her own ad and making it personal by falsely claiming that Zuckerberg had endorsed Trump for 2020.

Then came Zuckerbergs speech last month at Georgetown University in which he promoted free expression as the foundation for Facebooks refusal to take down content it deems newsworthy, even if the material violates company standards. The next week, during prickly questioning by Democratic lawmakers at a televised House hearing, Zuckerberg dug in on not fact-checking politicians speech and the handling of hate speech and potential incitements to violence.

Joyce Beatty of Ohio, the vice chair of the Congressional Black Caucus, focused on Facebooks track record on civil rights and diversity.

As they removed jackets and ties in unison and rolled up their shirt sleeves, Obama enthused, Being here at Facebook is so exciting for me.