The Great Smoky Mountain Journal
Source:
Tuesday, January 01, 2019 02:45 PM
Texas Sen. Ted Cruz Grills Facebook Founded CEO Mark Zuckerberg On Censorship Of Political Speech
Cruz, a Republican, asked several times whether Facebook is a neutral forum or whether it is simply engaging in its First Amendment right to political speech.
"There are a great many Americans who I think are deeply concerned that Facebook and other tech companies are [engaging in] a pervasive pattern of bias and political censorship," Cruz said.
Cruz said there have been instances where conservative or right-leaning thoughts or pages have been suppressed.
He mentioned posts about the IRS scandal in which former employee Lois Lerner was accused of targeting conservative groups for additional review, posts about Gov. Mitt Romney (R-Mass.), radio host Glenn Beck, and the annual Conservative Political Action Conference in Maryland.
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Mark #Zuckerberg: “I am very committed to making sure that Facebook is a platform for all ideas. That is a very important founding principle of what we do…That is something that, as long as I’m running the company, I’m going to be committed to making sure is the case.”
4:53 PM - Apr 10, 2018
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He pointed out that North Carolina-based conservative activists Diamond & Silk had their page deemed "unsafe to the community."
Zuckerberg said he understands the view that, as a company in liberal Silicon Valley, Calif., Facebook may engage in such politicking. But he said that is not his intent as chief executive.
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.@DiamondandSilk to @facebook: "What about our freedom of speech? This is censorship. You are censoring our voices." https://fxn.ws/2GIXMmM @IngrahamAngle
12:40 AM - Apr 10, 2018
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"[We try] to make sure we don't have any bias in the work that we do," Zuckerberg said.
Cruz appeared unconvinced and asked whether the same fate of censorship or suppression on Facebook has affected pages run by MoveOn.org, Planned Parenthood or Democratic political candidates.
Zuckerberg said he was unaware of any such actions.
He said there is a team of more than 10,000 employees tasked with "content review."
Zuckerberg said he is "very committed that Facebook is a platform for all ideas."