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Is Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg Planning a Run for the White House?

© REUTERS / Mariana BazoFacebook founder Mark Zuckerberg waves to the audience during a meeting of the APEC (Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation) Ceo Summit in Lima, Peru, November 19, 2016
Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg waves to the audience during a meeting of the APEC (Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation) Ceo Summit in Lima, Peru, November 19, 2016 - Sputnik International
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Included in the many artful prognostications on whether zillionaire and Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg is intending to run for the US presidency, a new theory has arisen, and it doesn't involve aliens.

One of the five wealthiest people on the planet, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg has little left to prove, and observers of the hyper-rich suggest that all that remains for the tech giant is to don a cape and become the "Leader of the Free World."

Routinely peppered with inquiries about his plans for the future, the 33-year old Zuckerberg has consistently denied any intent to become the US Commander in Chief, but many are not convinced of the truth of his answer.

Some hopefuls have noted that Zuckerberg has, over the past several months, visited US military bases at home and overseas, arranged to have dinner with Ohio families branded as plain folks, and even gone so far as to have a photo shoot produced of him "working" on a Ford auto assembly line.

These are the kinds of activities ordinarily engaged in by a person running for political office, notes the Business Insider.

All may not be as it seems, however, as alternative theories concerning the Facebook CEO's motivations for such popular glad-handing abound.

A former CEO of Ticketmaster, Nathan Hubbard, has his own idea as to why Zuckerberg is acting like a nascent candidate, and he tweeted his theory to the world over the weekend.

Hubbard suspects that Zuckerberg's moves are primarily in the service of improving his product: the Facebook experience.

Zuckerberg, Hubbard opines, was not made clear as to the outsize influence that Facebook had on the November 2016 election that saw US President Donald Trump — the most strikingly unpopular American leader in memory — to power.

Zuckerberg, Hubbard theorizes, is attempting, in his way, to atone for the ways in which Facebook is seen to have contributed to the ascension of Trump.

After the election, Zuckerberg "ventured out into the world beyond his bubble to do field research and inform how FB will evolve," according to Hubbard.

Hubbard, who has been quoted to assert that the rise of Facebook is "probably the greatest biz execution of our generation," has also noted that the staff of the social media powerhouse is comprised primarily of 

political operatives, according to Business Insider.

According to tech observers, a favorite talking point of Zuckerberg's — to his credit — is how Facebook members use the platform.

Hubbard, in noting that Zuckerberg — at such a young age — has adopted the role of a statesman, hedged his commentary by suggesting that the Facebook CEO's second in command, COO Sheryl Sandberg, would arguably be the more electable candidate.

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