Joe Scarborough has the week off, so viewers perhaps might have thought that their daily dose of Facebook criticism would have to be put on hold. But in an early segment of her Thursday morning show, MSNBC anchor Stephanie Ruhle stepped right in for her vacationing colleague. She let the real reason for slamming the social network get right out of the bag -- they won’t censor Trump!
Ruhle seized on a report commissioned by Facebook itself which slammed the tech company's choice to leave several posts by President Trump untouched. Including three from May, which the audit claimed were examples of "hateful and violent speech." What the host failed to mention was that the report was put together by liberal lobbyist, attorney, and Democratic donor Laura Murphy.
Ah yes, the Biden supporters at MSNBC really just wants Trump silenced. Behind their carefully constructed facade of concern for hate speech and violence, this is all just one big political game for them. Orange man bad is back in style for MSNBC, just in time for the fall. Ruhle’s first far-left guest, Color of Change president Rashad Robinson, just could not wait to agree with her:
I do want to push back on one idea that this is not simply about free speech, because free speech isn't without consequence. This is about Mark Zuckerberg's idea of free expression, which means he puts it above civil rights, above sort of the rights and protections of minority groups. The CEO has 2.6 billion users, has simply had the wrong type of incentive structures when it comes to determining what should stay on and what should come off the platform and those incentive structures are really focused on keeping Donald Trump happy to avoid regulation, and growth and profit.
Actually, the regulation of Facebook is about free speech, but the left has continually sought to define free speech as only speech they like and agree with. [Removed sentence] As conservative groups on Facebook have dominated, liberals in the media have begun to call for government oversight. Ruhle's next guest, Democratic hack and Recode co-founder Kara Swisher, demanded:
They're very concerned and they want to do better, that’s really what they wanna do.This has been years for me. That's why I call them the Susan Collins of the internet. He's concerned and seems to have no responsibility over it. I just keep -- I type the same column for the "New York Times" all the time, and at some point, regulators just have to get in here and figure out what to do
It seems that the leftists in the media today are really taking “if it moves, regulate it” to heart when it comes to social media platforms.
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Read a transcript of the July 9 segment below:
MSNBC Live with Stepanie Ruhle
7-9-20
STEPHANIE RUHLE: Facebook's decision to put free speech ahead of other values represents, quote, a significant setback for civil rights, according to a long-awaited audit of the company's practices. The report, which was commissioned by Facebook itself, slammed the social network's choice to leave several posts by President Trump untouched. Including three from May which the audit said contained hateful and violent speech. Joining me, Rashad Robinson, president of Color of Change and Kara Swisher, NBC contributor and co-host of the pivot podcast. This is a damning report not from the media, not from competitors but auditors hand-picked by Facebook itself. Could this change anything?
RASHAD ROBINSON: I do want to push back on one idea that this is not simply about free speech, because free speech isn't without consequence. This is about Mark Zuckerberg's idea of free expression, which means he puts it above civil rights, above sort of the rights and protections of minority groups, which over the years we've put laws in this country to ensure that we don't have rights trampling over people and that you can't go into a crowded theater and yell fire. Facebook is a platform that likes to think of themselves as a public square controlled by a single person that has 60% of the shares, that has, there's chairperson and CEO has 2.6 billion users, has simply had the wrong type of incentive structures when it comes to determining what should stay on and what should come off the platform and those incentive structures are really focused on keeping Donald Trump happy to avoid regulation, and growth and profit.
RUHLE: Kara, how do lawmakers not step in here? The audit stressed that the decisions to allow misleading posts like Trump's posts about mail-in ballots, which are completely untrue, leaves our election exposed to interference. How do our lawmakers not step in?
KARA SWISHER: This is not about free speech. It's about hate speech and about speech that is false, possibly leads to violence and things like that. I would put it more akin to like someone who is selling tainted meat, and saying that's okay because everybody should have access to all meat, and so it's just -- any other product you put in there seems ridiculous, and this is ridiculous. They are not defenders of free speech. They're defenders of their business model, This is not about free speech. It's about hate speech and about speech that is false, possibly leads to violence and things like that. I would put it more akin to like someone who is selling tainted meat, and saying that's okay because everybody should have access to all meat, and so it's just -- any other product you put in there seems ridiculous, and this is ridiculous. They are not defenders of free speech. They're defenders of their business model,
RUHLE: Okay, then Kara, this moment that the three of us are having right now is basically groundhog day. We've had this conversation over and over and over. Is there any reason you should believe that this time is different, that Facebook beyond Cilla and Mark being disgusted by hate speech and this audit being humiliating for the moment. Any reason to believe they're going to do anything different?
They're very concerned and they want to do better, that’s really what they wanna do.This has been years for me. That's why I call them the Susan Collins of the internet. He's concerned and seems to have no responsibility over it. I just keep -- I type the same column for the "New York Times" all the time, and at some point, regulators just have to get in here and figure out what to do
