Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg answered another round of questions on Thursday during a townhall at the company s headquarters, touching on international relations, his birthday and even fashion.
Ukraine: With 45,000 likes, the most popular question was about claims that the Facebook accounts of pro-Ukrainian bloggers, who wrote posts about the conflict between Russia and Ukraine, were blocked after false abuse reports. Zuckerberg said that some of posts violated Facebook s rules against hate speech. We made the determination that some of these posts included these ethnic slurs against some Russian folks and we took down those posts, he said. Ukraine s President Petro Poroshenko also asked if Facebook will open an office in the country. They might consider it over time, Zuckerberg said.
Biotech: Facebook isn t ruling out venturing into biotech like Google and other tech firms, but Zuckerberg said it would have to involve connecting people. Some people, for example, have created Facebook pages to find people to participate in clinical trials for new drugs. We re never going to be the company that s designing the drugs, he said.
Birthday plans: Turning 31 years old on Thursday, Zuckerberg described himself as a low-key birthday person. My view is I get too much attention the rest of the time, he quipped. So he ll probably go home with his wife, cook dinner and hang out with his dog.
Gaming: Zuckerberg said he got into programming as a kid by creating his own games, including a snowball fight game. I definitely wouldn t have gotten into programming if I hadn t played games as a kid, he said.
European Commission s digital single market proposal: Zuckerberg expressed support for a single set of Internet rules across the European Union. I think a single market would just make a lot more sense and would lead to better services for people in Europe and just more ability for companies like us to know what we re supposed to do, he said.
Diversity: Recruiting is one way Facebook is helping to diversify its employees, but with a shortage of women and minorities graduating with degrees in engineering and computer science Zuckerberg said more needs to be done to increase the supply of that workforce.
Fashion: It s not the first time that Zuckerberg has answered questions about his grey t-shirts, which he says he constantly wears so he can spend his energy thinking about more important things. What will he be wearing when he s 80 years old? Maybe I ll wear like a unitard, he said. Wait, he meant a onesie.
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