Facebook co-founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg acknowledged the controversial impact of his platform in his message for the Jewish holiday of Yom Kippur, vowing to improve the components he described as divisive.
“For those I hurt this year, I ask forgiveness and I will try to be better. For the ways my work was used to divide people rather than bring us together, I ask forgiveness and I will work to do better,’ Zuckerberg wrote in a Facebook post on Saturday.
Yom Kippur is the holiest day of the year in the Jewish religion. Those observing the holiday fast for 25 hours, and spend the majority of their time in Synagogue, praying to God and repenting for the sins they committed in the past year.
Zuckerberg’s post comes as Facebook faces increasing scrutiny of its role in enabling Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election. The company acknowledged last month that nearly 500 accounts, which likely came from Russia, purchased $100,000 in Facebook ads during the 2016 election. Two weeks later, Zuckerberg outlined Facebook’s plan to combat Russian attempts to hack elections.
https://www.facebook.com/zuck/posts/10104074437830721
Zuckerberg concluded his post by wishing for everyone to be inscribed in the book of life, which, according to Jewish observance, determines your fate for the upcoming year.