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Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg backs Apple in its FBI fight

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg backs Apple in its FBI fight

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Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg echoed Google CEO Sundar Pichai and WhatsApp founder Jan Koum today in stating his personal support for Apple in its encryption fight with the FBI. "We’re sympathetic with Apple on this one," Zuckerberg said today at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona. "We believe in encryption. I expect it’s not the right thing to try to block that from the mainstream products people want to use, and I think it’s not going to be the right regulatory or economic policy to put in place."

Zuckerberg said he believes in using strong encryption, but also assisting the government in its terrorism fight, Re/code reports. "We feel like we have a pretty big responsibility," he said. "We certainly do have very strong policies on this that if there’s any content that’s promoting terrorism or sympathizing with ISIS or anything like that, we’ll … get those people off the service."

"We’re sympathetic with Apple on this one"

Apple’s fight against the FBI has drawn fresh lines between tech companies and intelligence agencies. Microsoft, Twitter, Google, and WhatsApp also publicly came out against the FBI’s attempt to force Apple to write custom code to help law enforcement unlock the iPhone 5C used by one of the San Bernardino shooters. Facebook issued a public statement under the company’s name last week. In its statement, Facebook said it would "continue to fight aggressively against requirements for companies to weaken the security of their systems" and that the FBI’s demands "would create a chilling precedent and obstruct companies’ efforts to secure their products."