Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s leftist opponents are working to make sure there is nowhere he can look without seeing their criticism.
Media Matters for America, a left-leaning media watchdog, is planning to fly a plane over Facebook’s Menlo Park, California, offices with a banner bearing the message, “FACEBOOK 💜 RIGHT WING LIES.”
Facebook’s decision to not fact-check political ads stands in stark contrast to the decision of its competitor Twitter’s decision to pull political ads altogether. Angelo Carusone, Media Matters president, said in a statement that Facebook’s ad policy and news partners initiative is “essentially opening the floodgates so its users are left to drown in a sea of misinformation and bigotry.”
“Facebook is now the single greatest ally and enabler of propagandists, liars, and extremists,” Mr. Carusone said in a statement. “Zuckerberg’s continued reflexive pandering to conservative pundits, right-wing extremists and white nationalists should terrify everyone.”
Mr. Zuckerberg’s relationships with conservative media members came under congressional scrutiny during his testimony before the House Financial Services Committee last month.
Mr. Zuckerberg visited the committee to talk about Libra, his company’s cryptocurrency project, but he was grilled by Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez over his ongoing effort to build relationships with political conservatives.
Since July, Mr. Zuckerberg has met in private with several conservative media personalities, including Fox News’ Tucker Carlson and commentator Ben Shapiro.
“In your ongoing dinner parties with far-right figures, some of who advance the conspiracy theory that white supremacy is a hoax, did you discuss so-called social media bias against conservatives and do you believe there is a bias?” Ms. Ocasio-Cortez asked.
“Uh, congresswoman, um, sorry, I don’t remember everything that was in the sentence, in the question that you asked,” Mr. Zuckerberg answered.
Ms. Ocasio-Cortez moved on to other questions, but her allies such as Media Matters still have not let the gripe go.
On Monday evening, Mr. Zuckerberg is scheduled to dine with left-leaning Muslim Advocates Executive Director Farhana Khera about what she views as the company’s “anti-Muslim problem.”
• Ryan Lovelace can be reached at rlovelace@washingtontimes.com.
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