Republicans on the House Judiciary Committee say Facebook unfairly flagged their criticism of President Biden’s plan to forgive some student loan debt, prompting the social media platform to say it was done in error.
The House Judiciary GOP posted screenshots of a message that said their comments violated Facebook’s “community standards.”
The original post, according to the committee, said: “If you take out a loan, you pay it back. Period.”
“There is nothing about the content of this post that violates our policies, people should not have been prevented from sharing it and we’re working to fix it now,” tweeted Andy Stone, a spokesman for Meta, the parent company of Facebook.
Mr. Biden announced a plan on Wednesday to cancel $10,000 in student debt for borrowers who earn less than $125,000 per year and $20,000 in debt for those who received Pell Grants.
The decision sparked an outcry from Republicans who say it is unfair to persons who sacrificed and saved enough to pay for college or decided not to go at all because of the cost, only to see Uncle Sam swoop in with loan forgiveness.
Now, their criticisms are fueling the debate around tech-platform censorship, another hot-button issue for the GOP.
“WOW: @facebook says our post about paying back loans violates their “community standards.” Big Tech’s at it again,” the Judiciary Republicans tweeted.
• Tom Howell Jr. can be reached at thowell@washingtontimes.com.
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