Mark Zuckerberg ‘confident’ heading into 2020 election, but says Facebook must make defenses ‘stronger and stronger’

Mark Zuckerberg says in a new interview that he is "confident" that Facebook can thwart attempts at interference in the 2020 presidential election, but he could not make any assurances.

It has been found that Russian agents used Facebook and other social media platforms to reach millions of Americans during the contentious 2016 White House race won by Donald Trump.

“What I can guarantee is that they’re definitely going to try,” the Facebook CEO told George Stephanopoulos in an interview that aired on ABC News on Thursday.

“That’s what we’ve seen,” Zuckerberg added. “So our job is to make the defenses stronger and stronger, to make it harder for them to do what they’re doing and to build the right partnerships with other folks in the industry and in the intelligence community, so that way, together, we can get a good sense of what is going on out there and help keep this safe.”

He added that spending money on safety and security will be a priority heading into the next presidential election.

Zuckerberg touched on a variety of subjects during the “Good Morning America” interview, including the outrage over the livestreaming of the mass shootings in New Zealand that left 50 people dead.

He said that a timed delay might have limited the views of the horrific shooting, but cautioned that it would also “fundamentally break what livestreaming is for people.”

“Most people are livestreaming, you know, a birthday party or hanging out with friends when they can’t be together,” Zuckerberg told ABC News. “It’s one of the things that’s magical about livestreaming is that it’s bi-directional, right? So you’re not just broadcasting. You’re communicating. And people are commenting back. So if you had a delay that would break that.”

He also said a planned independent oversight board with a “judicial structure” of about 40 people who will make decisions about content.

“If you’re in the community, if we take something down that you think is valid expression, you’re going to be able to appeal that to this oversight board. And they’re going to have the binding authority to make a decision,” he told Stephanopoulos.