Mark Zuckerberg's remarks were prompted by a tweet this morning in which President Donald Trump described Facebook as "always anti-Trump." | Justin Sullivan/Getty Images Zuckerberg: Facebook is not 'anti-Trump'

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg defended the role his social network played in last year's presidential election, saying the communication it facilitated among voters and candidates significantly outweighed the influence of Russian-backed ads.

"Campaigns spent hundreds of millions advertising online to get their messages out even further. That's 1000x more than any problematic ads we've found," Zuckerberg wrote.


His remarks were prompted by a tweet this morning in which President Donald Trump described Facebook as "always anti-Trump."

"Trump says Facebook is against him. Liberals say we helped Trump," Zuckerberg wrote. "Both sides are upset about ideas and content they don't like. That's what running a platform for all ideas looks like."

In the online missive, Zuckerberg also apologized for remarks he made shortly after the election, in which he said it was "crazy" to think that misinformation disseminated on Facebook could influence the outcome of the election.

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"This is too important an issue to be dismissive," he wrote. "But the data we have has always shown that our broader impact — from giving people a voice to enabling candidates to communicate directly to helping millions of people vote — played a far bigger role in this election."

Facebook has faced sharp criticism since it revealed earlier this summer that a group affiliated with the Russian government purchased 3,000 ads dealing with social and political causes during the election.

Facebook, Google and Twitter have been invited to testify before the Senate Intelligence Committee on Nov. 1. A separate hearing with the House Intelligence Committee is expected to take place in October.

