Facebook Exec Admits Company Got Trump Elected, Issues Warning

A Facebook executive admitted the company's platform got Donald Trump into the White House in 2016, and warned it may happen again.

In an internal memo shared last month and publicly posted on Tuesday, VP Andrew Bosworth told his colleagues that the Trump campaign's use of Facebook's advertising tools were responsible for the election upset -- and Hillary Clinton's loss.

"So was Facebook responsible for Donald Trump getting elected?" Bosworth wrote. "I think the answer is yes, but not for the reasons anyone thinks. He didn't get elected because of Russia or misinformation or Cambridge Analytica. He got elected because he ran the single best digital ad campaign I've ever seen from any advertiser. Period."

He gave big props to Brad Parscale, the digital director for Trump's 2016 campaign who is now heading the 2020 effort.

"When Trump won, Cambridge Analytica tried to take credit," he wrote, "I was glad when the Trump campaign manager Brad Parscale called them out for it."

"They weren't running misinformation or hoaxes. They weren't microtargeting or saying different things to different people. They just used the tools we had to show the right creative to each person," he shared.

Bosworth revealed Trump's strategy with Facebook for the 2020 election may "very well may lead to the same result." But the Democrat-voting bigwig made it clear he does not believe in intervening.

"As a committed liberal I find myself desperately wanting to pull any lever at my disposal to avoid the same result. As tempting as it is to use the tools available to us to change the outcome, I am confident we must never do that or we will become that which we fear."

Bosworth also welcomed the scrutiny Facebook faces on a daily basis as the company holds a "position in society as the most prominent of a new medium."

"I think most of the criticisms that have come to light have been valid and represent real areas for us to serve our community better," he detailed, adding, "I don't enjoy having our flaws exposed, but I consider it far better than the alternative where we remain ignorant of our shortcomings."