At an internal event in July, Zuckerberg was asked about the controversial tool. “It’s better for Facebook to be a part of enabling conversation, even if it’s not yet the full conversation,” Zuckerberg said, according to the employees, the Times reported.
There is no indication that Facebook has offered the tool to the Chinese and, like other experiments by the company, the tool could be shelved, the sources told the newspaper.
“We have long said that we are interested in China, and are spending time understanding and learning more about the country. However, we have not made any decision on our approach to China,” a Facebook spokeswoman wrote in an email on Tuesday, when asked to comment on the Times' report. “Our focus right now is on helping Chinese businesses and developers expand to new markets outside China by using our ad platform,” she added.