- Florida Rep. Matt Gaetz on Monday accused Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg of lying to Congress during two hearings in 2018 and asked Attorney General William Barr to investigate the matter.
- Gaetz alleged that Zuckerberg made false statements for “repeatedly and categorically [denying] any prejudice against conservative discourse, people, politics or politics “on Facebook.
- The Florida congressman cited a recent sting operation by dubious right-wing activist group Project Veritas to back up his charges against Zuckerberg.
- President Donald Trump and Republican lawmakers frequently accuse Facebook and Zuckerberg of harboring an anti-conservative bias.
- But journalists have pointed out that many of the highest-performing Facebook posts come from right-wing pages, and that Zuckerberg has held several unofficial dinners with influential conservative figures.
- Visit the Business Insider home page for more stories.
Florida Rep. Matt Gaetz on Monday accused Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg of lying to Congress and asked the Justice Department to investigate the matter.
In a letter to Attorney General William Barr, Gaetz alleged that Zuckerberg made false statements to Congress about moderating Facebook content at two hearings in 2018.
“Both times, members of Congress asked Mr. Zuckerberg about the allegations that Facebook censored and removed content that supports President Donald Trump and other conservatives,” Gaetz wrote.
“In his responses, Zuckerberg repeatedly and categorically denied any bias against conservative speech, people, politics or politics,” he added. “Mr. Zuckerberg also rejected the suggestion that Facebook exercise any form of editorial manipulation.”
(This is what Zuckerberg said when asked if Facebook harbors an anti-conservative bias: “First, I understand where that concern comes from because Facebook and the tech industry are in Silicon Valley, which is an extremely left-leaning place.” And this is a concern that I have and that I try to eradicate in the company is to make sure that we don’t have any bias in the work that we do, and I think it’s a fair concern that people at least ask me about. “)
In his letter to Barr, Gaetz said “recent reports from the Veritas Project, with whistleblowers working as Facebook’s ‘content moderators’, have shown ample evidence” of Facebook’s alleged “bias and manipulation” against conservative discourse .
The Veritas Project is a right-wing activist group that frequently traffics in misinformation and propaganda. The organization is known for its covert operations against the mainstream media and for deceptively editing videos.
Last month, Project Veritas released hidden camera footage that appeared to show Facebook content moderators alleging they are removing pro-Trump posts or voicing conservative views.
“According to the Veritas report and the undercover images, the judges were frank about their political bias against the Republicans, and actively decided to remove content that would otherwise be allowed from the platform and from public view simply because of their political orientation. “Gaetz wrote to Barr. “This arbitrary and capricious behavior is not carried out in good faith and is outside the express intention of §230 of the Law of Decency in Communications, which provides protection of liability of Facebook whenever the platform moderates the content in ‘good faith’ “
The Florida congressman added that the Veritas Project investigation also found that Facebook labeled “a large amount of ‘political speech’ supporting the President” as hate speech in violation of company policy. “At the same time, the speech promoting violence against the President and his supporters was labeled as merely ‘political’ and was therefore allowed to remain on the platform,” Gaetz wrote.
“These facts are in direct contrast to Mr. Zuckerberg’s testimony before Congress where he swore under oath that Facebook is a politically neutral platform, and that he is personally working to eliminate any employee who restricts discourse based on overwhelmingly leftist culture. from Silicon Valley. ” “These misrepresentations are not only unfair, they are potentially illegal and fraudulent. I hope you give this reference full and proper consideration. “
Trump, conservative lawmakers and right-wing media figures have repeatedly accused Zuckerberg and Facebook of anti-conservative bias.
But journalists have pointed out that many of the highest-performing Facebook posts come from right-wing pages and the media. The social media giant has also come under fire for allowing politicians to run ads that are not subject to fact-checking by third parties. And last year, Politico reported that Zuckerberg has held several unofficial dinners with influential conservative figures, including Fox News commentator Tucker Carlson and Republican Senator Lindsey Graham.
