So much for Facebook’s noble position that the best policy for online speech is to allow more speech. In its latest concession to the left, Facebook is reportedly eyeing a complete surrender and shutting down political ads prior to the election.
“Facebook Inc. is considering imposing a ban on political ads on its social network in the days leading up to the U.S. election in November, according to people familiar with the company’s thinking” Bloomberg reported July 10.
The potential ban allegedly has not yet been set in stone. Bloomberg commented that “A halt on ads could serve as a defense against misleading election-related content spreading widely right as people prepare to vote.” Bloomberg also hedged this by warning “there are also concerns that an ad blackout could hurt ‘get out the vote’ campaigns, or limit a candidate’s ability to respond widely to breaking news or new information.”
President Donald Trump was very successful on the platform in 2016 and the efforts to censor him or limit ads are clearly targeted at hindering his campaign.
In 2019, Facebook ignited a storm of liberal outrage when it decided that going forward it would allow political campaign ads to run unvetted by liberal fact checkers. CBS This Morning co-host Gayle King roasted Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg for his choices on moderating the platform, to which he replied: “What I believe is that, in a democracy, it’s really important that people can see for themselves what politicians are saying, so they can make their own judgments.” Indeed, Facebook seemed like a staunch defender of free speech, until more than more than 1,000 companies joined an advertising boycott.
The boycott was headed by leftist Color of Change, funded by liberal billionaire George Soros, and Common Sense Media led by Jim Steyer, brother of former Democratic presidential candidate Tom Steyer. Facebook just met with “civil rights” leaders such as Anti-Defamation League (ADL) Director Jonathan Greenblatt, Color of Change President Rashad Robinson, and NAACP President Derrick Johnson on July 7 to discuss the platform’s policies and recent civil rights audit. The leaders said they were dissatisfied with Facebook’s refusal to do as they demanded and censor the president.
“Facebook doesn’t fact-check ads from politicians or their campaigns, a point of contention for many lawmakers and advocates, who say the policy means ads on the platform could be used to spread lies and misinformation” Bloomberg explained. The same article also recounted how “The social-media giant has been criticized in recent weeks by civil rights groups.”
Ever hard to please, leftist activists and commentators who were outraged by the fact that Facebook prioritizes “free expression over all other values” were unsatisfied with anything less than total submission to their demands.
Conservatives are under attack. Contact Facebook headquarters at 1-650-308-7300 or 1-650-543-4800 and demand that the platform mirror the First Amendment: Tech giants should afford their users nothing less than the free speech and free exercise of religion embodied in the First Amendment as interpreted by the U.S. Supreme Court. If you have been censored, contact us at the Media Research Center contact form, and help us hold Big Tech accountable.
