Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg once said, “I don’t think it’s right for a private company to censor politicians or the news in a democracy.” The sentiment seemed to vanish after a slew of ad boycotts and hit pieces in the liberal media.
On June 26, Zuckerberg outlined new policies in a Facebook post, including one aimed at comments from politicians — in other words, President Donald Trump. “Even if a politician or government official says it, if we determine that content may lead to violence or deprive people of their right to vote, we will take that content down,” he stated.
Zuckerberg continued, saying “But I also stand against hate, or anything that incites violence or suppresses voting, and we're committed to removing that no matter where it comes from.” The announcement also declared the company’s plans to label certain posts from politicians that violate the rules but would be left up.
Senator Josh Hawley (R-MO) stated to the Media Research Center, “I don’t trust Facebook to implement fairly any new policy it announces, no matter how innocuous it sounds. That’s why I’ve introduced legislation to protect users’ speech from bad faith content moderation by the platforms.”
According to Vice Media, more than 160 companies have announced a temporary boycott on Facebook ads, including Verizon, Coco-Cola, and Starbucks. Facebook lost $7.2 billion, according to The New York Post. The social media platform made the announcement of its new election policies on a day when its stock plummeted.
The left, in its rage, was not satisfied by Facebook’s initial concessions. “Mark Zuckerberg is a white supremacist,” wrote one activist on Twitter. The initial boycott, “Stop Hate for Profit,” has no intention of stopping, according to a Reuters exclusive. The movement was started by the Anti-Defamation League, Soros-funded “civil rights” group Color of Change, Common Sense Media, which is run by former Democratic candidate for president Tom Steyer’s brother James Steyer, Soros-funded operation Free Press, Soros-funded “civil rights” group NAACP, Sleeping Giants, Lulac, Mozilla, and the National Hispanic Media Coalition.
The boycott organizers want more: a list of 10 demands are currently being made on the boycott’s official website. These demands include hiring a C-suite level executive “with civil rights expertise to evaluate products and policies for discrimination, bias, and hate.” Other demands include “Find and remove public and private groups focused on white supremacy, militia, antisemitism, violent conspiracies, Holocaust denialism, vaccine misinformation, and climate denialism.” Will these demands be met as Facebook loses more money?
The Free Speech Alliance, a conservative coalition of nearly 70 groups led by the Media Research Center, also made a list of demands to Facebook. These demands include more transparency, providing equal footing for conservatives, providing clarity on “hate speech,” and mirroring the First Amendment. These demands have not been met. If the demands of the Stop Hate for Profit boycott are met, then they will counter the demands of the Free Speech Alliance.
It’s time for Facebook to make a choice. You can contact Facebook headquarters at 1-650-308-7300 or 1-650-543-4800.
