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Zuckerberg's GOP Meeting Shows a Master Politician in the Making

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It's not every day that conservative leaders fly across the country to take a meeting with a guy who supports gay marriage. A guy who says undocumented immigrants should receive legal status. A leader who rigorously defends encryption and invests in clean energy technology.

It's rarer still that they leave such a meeting with nothing but positive things to say about it.

But that's what happened this week as more than a dozen conservative thought leaders descended upon Silicon Valley to meet with Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg. The meeting was sparked by a report alleging Facebook staffers suppressed conservative content in its Trending Topics feature. Facebook has said no such bias exists, but conservatives wanted a chance to air their grievances and seek reassurance.

Afterward, based on the reactions of those in attendance, the company would be safe in saying "mission accomplished." The much-hyped meeting resulted in a wave of positive tweets, Facebook posts, and other responses from all involved. Conservative commentator S.E. Cupp called it a "very productive meeting." Brent Bozell, president of the conservative group Media Research Center, said, "Facebook understands there is a problem. And I think from the very top there is a genuine desire to see it restored." On Medium talk radio icon Glenn Beck penned an essay praising Zuckerberg's "thoughtfulness, his directness, and what seemed to be his earnest desire to 'connect the world.'"

Whether the meeting will lead to any actual changes at Facebook is still an open question, and the company declined to comment on future plans. But one thing is for sure: it proved that Zuckerberg is one of the most skilled political figures of our time.

Not in a "Zuckerberg 2016!" "Long Live the Innovation Party" kind of way. Not in the least. Rather, the meeting was, above all, a political move for Facebook and one that appears to have worked. Yes, maintaining the appearance of neutrality will be key to Facebook's longterm success. But in the near term, the company needs to rebuild trust with conservatives, a crucial community of users, particularly in a contentious election year. And in just 90 minutes Zuckerberg managed to quell attendees' suspicions about Facebook's underlying motives, proving just how powerful a position he now finds himself in politically.

Zuckerberg is one of the most skilled political figures of our time.

Zuckerberg is neither a straightforward media mogul nor a politician. He is, first and foremost, the creator and leader of one of the most successful businesses of this generation. He is a capitalist icon, and for free market conservatives, it gets mighty tricky trying to justify interfering with the way he runs his business. Beck said as much in his essay: "They are a private-owned company with investors who can decide what is right for them."

"I felt they approached it with a really humble attitude," said Jenny Beth Martin, co-founder of the group Tea Party Patriots, who attended the meeting. "They're a company that has a really good tech platform, and they're always looking for ways to improve it and be better and be innovative."

Just Trust Us

But what makes the situation even more complicated for conservatives is what exactly they should ask for from Facebook. Openness? Okay. Balance? Sure. But how could Facebook, whose algorithms make billions of what are ultimately editorial decisions every day ever possibly prove it's being fair? How could Facebook ever show all its work?

The answer is, it can't. And so, the question comes down to trust, trust that Facebook will do right by users of every political affiliation. Zuckerberg has been playing the trust game with users for more than a decade, on issues ranging from privacy to how its technology decides what to show more than a billion users in their News Feeds at any given moment. We won't tell you how everything works, Facebook has in effect told users. Just trust us to do right by you.

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