Mark Zuckerberg still isn’t running for president — he’d rather help government solve tech problems

Mark Zuckerberg maintains that he never wanted to be president — but he does have some lower-profile political ambitions.

Bloomberg wrote a story about Zuckerberg and his past nine months running Facebook amid numerous crises, and tried to explain his whistle-stop tour across America.

It’s this tour that led many to speculate that Zuckerberg might be positioning himself for a presidential run. Zuckerberg has denied this before, but one of the interesting nuggets in that story is that Zuckerberg did open up ever so slightly about his political ambitions.

Zuckerberg told Bloomberg that he has considered the idea of a “temporary role in government related to technology or science”; the reporters added a “for instance” in which Zuckerberg could help the country improve its technology infrastructure.

That sounds like some kind of advisory role, though Bloomberg didn’t mention a specific job, and didn’t imply that a formal role was ever offered. It’s possible that Zuckerberg could have been referring to a job in a Hillary Clinton administration. We’ve asked the company for more info, and we’ll update if we hear back.

It’s no secret that Zuckerberg has an interest in politics. When Facebook made plans last year to split its stock so that Zuckerberg could spend his billions on philanthropy without losing control of the company, there was language in the Securities and Exchange Commission filing that paved the way for him to take a government position without losing his Facebook control.

But while Zuckerberg continues to dismiss the idea that he wants to hold some kind of major political office, including president, that hasn’t stopped outsiders from speculating that he might. The crew over at Five Thirty Eight even picked Zuckerberg 23rd overall in their fantasy-football-style draft of Democratic presidential candidates.

This article originally appeared on Recode.net.

Will you support Vox’s explanatory journalism?

Most news outlets make their money through advertising or subscriptions. But when it comes to what we’re trying to do at Vox, there are a couple of big issues with relying on ads and subscriptions to keep the lights on:

First, advertising dollars go up and down with the economy. We often only know a few months out what our advertising revenue will be, which makes it hard to plan ahead.

Second, we’re not in the subscriptions business. Vox is here to help everyone understand the complex issues shaping the world — not just the people who can afford to pay for a subscription. We believe that’s an important part of building a more equal society. And we can’t do that if we have a paywall.

So even though advertising is still our biggest source of revenue, we also seek grants and reader support. (And no matter how our work is funded, we have strict guidelines on editorial independence.)

If you also believe that everyone deserves access to trusted high-quality information, will you make a gift to Vox today? Any amount helps.

One-Time Monthly Annual

$5/month

$10/month

$25/month

$50/month

Other

$

Yes, I'll give $5/month

Yes, I'll give $5/month

We accept credit card, Apple Pay, and Google Pay. You can also contribute via