Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez says a cabal of powerful and influential “white supremacists” are propping up Facebook.
The New York Democrat lashed out at Silicon Valley giant Mark Zuckerberg on Thursday for his assertion that “Facebook shouldn’t be the arbiter of truth of everything that people say online.”
Mr. Zuckerberg was thrust into the spotlight when social media rival Twitter began “fact-checking” President Trump’s tweet earlier in the week.
“Zuckerberg is not worried about being bullied by Trump,” the New York Democrat told nearly 7 million Twitter followers. “He is worried that Facebook’s PR operation is falling apart as it’s exposed that their platform relies on white supremacists & disinformation peddlers to be successful.”
Ms. Ocasio-Cortez claim hinges on the idea that Facebook’s nearly 3 billion monthly active users around the world are influenced by “white supremacists.”
What Ms. Ocasio-Cortez meant by Facebook relying on white supremacists was suggested by a later tweet in which she said “Facebook’s ties to white supremacy-linked orgs and sympathy for disinformation campaigns is not a small thing.”
In the clip, in which she retweeted a video of herself questioning Mr. Zuckerberg at a hearing during which she noted that the outside bipartisan fact-checking consortium that Facebook uses includes the Daily Caller.
She said the conservative publication is “well-documented with ties to white supremacists.”
Also in the Democrat’s camp is Tommy Vietor, former NSC spokesman for the Obama administration.
“Facebook’s own research shows the platform is polarizing the country and driving people into extremists groups,” Mr. Vietor tweeted while sharing a Newsweek piece on social media regulation. “But Zuckerberg is more worried about being called mean names by Trump.”
Mr. Zuckerberg recently told Fox News that Facebook and other private companies, “especially these platform companies, shouldn’t be in the position of [policing political speech].”
The president has vowed to sign an executive order aimed at protecting free speech of right-leaning users in response to prolonged complaints about fairness by liberal tech giants.
“Big Tech is doing everything in their very considerable power to CENSOR in advance of the 2020 Election,” Mr. Trump tweeted Wednesday. “If that happens, we no longer have our freedom. I will never let it happen! They tried hard in 2016, and lost. Now they are going absolutely CRAZY.”
Zuckerberg is not worried about being bullied by Trump.
— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) May 28, 2020
He is worried that Facebook’s PR operation is falling apart as it’s exposed that their platform relies on white supremacists & disinformation peddlers to be successful.
They aren’t ignoring them. They’re protecting them. https://t.co/DA4Fz6pc5q
• Douglas Ernst can be reached at dernst@washingtontimes.com.
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