Facebook board member and billionaire investor Peter Thiel has reportedly extended his influence over CEO Mark Zuckerberg and was key in the controversial decision to continue accepting political ads ahead of the 2020 election and to not fact-check them. The Wall Street Journal reports that Thiel is a deeply divisive figure inside the company, with many employees arguing that the decision is unraveling the company’s push to combat misinformation. The employees told the newspaper Thiel has managed to broaden his influence at Facebook over the past two years, when more than a dozen senior executives have left or said they will leave. Thiel is a Republican who backed Donald Trump in 2016, and has reportedly been helping Zuckerberg understand how to deal with the Trump White House. Zuckerberg and Thiel were reported to have had a private dinner at the White House with Trump in October. “Mark is friends with Peter Thiel and a lot of Republicans,” a former Facebook employee told the newspaper. “It’s a reality people aren’t willing to accept.”
