Born in Chicago in 1947, Hillary Clinton is one of the best-known politicians in American politics. Having studied law at Yale, Clinton built a successful career as a high-powered lawyer, at one point figuring on lists ranking the most powerful lawyers in the country.
Clinton served as First Lady of the United States under her husband ex-President Bill Clinton between 1993 and 2001. Having gone on to forge her own political career, she served as Senator from New York (2001 to 2009) and Secretary of State (2009 to 2013). Clinton has run for president on two separate occasions, in 2008 and 2016, losing out to her Republican counterpart on both occasions.
In 2018, Clinton took aim at the role that Facebook played in spreading the fake news that she claims damaged her 2016 presidential bid. After the election, a major scandal erupted surrounding a company called Cambridge Analytica which was found to have harvested information about millions of Facebook users. The data was then discovered to have been used by the Donald Trump campaign to slander political rivals in targeted propaganda campaigns. It is Clinton’s belief that this propaganda had a significant effect in swaying voters to cast their ballots for her Republican presidential rival.
When asked by Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healey which company she would like to lead as CEO, Clinton did not hesitate in replying tongue in cheek: “Facebook”. Clinton then stated her desire to ensure that the social media platform is held responsible for inaccurate articles that are disseminated to its users. She followed this up by saying: “Now Facebook is trying to take on some of the unexpected consequences of their business model, and I for one hope they get it right because it really is critical to our democracy that people get accurate information on which to make decisions.”