Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg at a joint congressional hearing in April 2018 on the company's use and protection of user data. Aaron P. Bernstein/Reuters

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg has been hosting private and off-the-record dinners with conservative leaders, pundits, and journalists since July, Politico reported on Monday.

Attendees of these meetings, hosted at Zuckerberg's California homes, have included Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham and the Fox News host Tucker Carlson, Politico said.

Republicans, including President Donald Trump, have long claimed that social-media companies are censoring conservative speech.

Meanwhile, Democrats have slammed Facebook for allowing politicians to publish ads that aren't subject to third-party fact-checking.

Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg has been hosting private and off-the-record dinners with conservative leaders, pundits, and journalists since July, Politico reported on Monday.

Attendees of these meetings, hosted at Zuckerberg's California homes, have included Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham, the Fox News host Tucker Carlson, the right-wing commentator Ben Shapiro, and the conservative CNN contributor Mary Katharine Ham, Politico said.

While Democrats have repeatedly expressed outrage over Facebook's failure to stem the flow of disinformation on its site, Republicans, including President Donald Trump, have long claimed that social-media companies are censoring conservative speech.

Zuckerberg is reportedly engaged in this wide-ranging effort to reach out to conservatives as a way to calm right-wing calls to crack down on the company. In June, Trump vaguely threatened to sue Google and Facebook.

Read more: Carpe Donktum, the pro-Trump 'memesmith' who visited the White House, is working with the creator of the fake Trump church massacre video

"The discussion in Silicon Valley is that Zuckerberg is very concerned about the Justice Department, under Bill Barr, bringing an enforcement action to break up the company," a cybersecurity researcher and former government official told Politico's Natasha Bertrand and Daniel Lippman.

Zuckerberg responded to the reports late Monday afternoon with a Facebook message that read, in part, "I have dinners with lots of people across the spectrum on lots of different issues all the time. Meeting new people and hearing from a wide range of viewpoints is part of learning. If you haven't tried it, I suggest you do!"

Facebook has been criticized for its decision to allow politicians to publish ads that aren't subject to third-party fact-checking. To draw attention to her concern about the Facebook ad-policy change, Sen. Elizabeth Warren, a leading 2020 candidate, intentionally published an ad falsely saying that Zuckerberg had endorsed the president.

Discussions at the meetings have revolved around "free expression, unfair treatment of conservatives, the appeals process for real or perceived unfair treatment, fact-checking, partnerships, and privacy," a source told Politico.

Trump has long accused social-media companies and search engines of deliberately censoring him and his followers.

"What they did to me on Twitter is incredible," Trump said in an interview with Fox's Maria Bartiromo in June. "You know, I have millions and millions of followers, but I will tell you they make it very hard for people to join me at Twitter, and they make it very much harder for me to get out the message."

NOW WATCH: Popular Videos from Insider Inc.