According to a study by , Facebook has “interfered” in elections in the United States at least 39 times since 2008. Media Research Center,
Last month, researchers at MRC Free Speech America found that Google has “interfered” in United States elections 41 times over the past 16 years. The team then turned their attention to Facebook and concluded that although Mark Zuckerberg, CEO of Meta While he appears to believe in freedom of speech, his company’s actions prove otherwise.
“Like Google, Facebook has an extensive history of interfering in US elections. But it’s not entirely fair to compare the two companies. I believe some part of Mark Zuckerberg believes in freedom of speech.” Google management apparently doesn’t, but Brent Bozell, founder and president of the Media Research Center, believes his company’s policies and practices have resulted in excessive censorship. Which always targets the same side of the political spectrum and needs to stop. fox news digital,
The Media Research Center says Google has ‘interfered’ in elections 41 times in the last 16 years.
The Media Research Center said that Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg appears to believe in freedom of speech, but his company’s actions prove otherwise. (Alex Wong/Getty Images)
Dan Schneider, vice president of MRC Free Speech America, and editor Gabriela Parisio, who conducted the study, wrote a 10,000-word description of the findings.
“Zuckerberg and his company have a complicated relationship with free speech. The Meta CEO has repeatedly made strident statements in support of free speech, condemning fact checking, Big Tech election interference and political censorship, and Yet his platform participates in all three, Schneider and Pariseau wrote.
“It seems that Meta – now the parent company of Facebook – has found itself increasingly caught between doing the bidding of the left, which claims to prioritize keeping the Internet free of so-called misinformation at all costs, And claims to placate the right, which prioritizes free speech as a cornerstone of representative democracy,” he continued, before diving into the examples.
MRC Free Speech America said Facebook has “censored” 2024 presidential candidates, including Robert F. Kennedy Jr., and 2022 Senate and Congressional candidates. According to the MRC, in 2021, Facebook “removed the account of Virginia gubernatorial candidate Amanda Chase,” and it “strengthened its censorship mechanisms with a particular focus on Donald Trump” and in 2020 “one week before the election Stopped political advertising”.
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Conservatives have long insisted that Facebook and other social media platforms support liberal ideology. (Cyberguy.com)
Schneider and Pariso wrote that Facebook’s “notorious censorship” of then-President Trump included several campaign ads and several anti-Biden-Harris ads before Election Day.
According to MRC, Facebook “censored various pro-life candidates”, including Marsha Blackburn, R-Tennessee, and suspended “numerous pro-Trump pages and Bernie Sanders supporter groups” in 2016.
“It also artificially elevated liberal news to its trending news section while blacklisting popular conservatives like Ted Cruz,” Schneider and Pariseau wrote.
According to the MRC, in 2012, Facebook suspended a veteran PAC for a meme drawing attention to the attack on Benghazi, which it concluded was beneficial to then-President Obama.
“On at least three occasions, Facebook/Zuckerberg expressed support for free speech online, but after the comments, the Big Tech platform moved in the opposite direction,” Schneider and Pariseau wrote, noting that high-powered Zuckerberg stressed in 2019 that “free expression” should be prioritized over “political consequences”.
“But after a series of so-called ‘civil rights’ audits conducted by the left, COO Sheryl Sandberg praised the left’s recommendations and committed to ‘putting more of their proposals into practice,’ which she did,” Schneider and Pariseau. Wrote.
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According to a study by the Media Research Center, Facebook has “interfered” in elections in the United States at least 39 times since 2008. (Curt “Cyberguy” Knutson)
MRC Free Speech America offers recommendations to combat election interference. The conservative watchdog believes House Speaker Johnson should “direct relevant committees and committee chairs to investigate Facebook for election interference,” adding that “state legislatures should ensure that Big Tech approaches discrimination.” “State attorneys general and secretaries of state should consider taking appropriate action to enforce state election laws as it relates to Facebook’s election interference.”
The group also called on Facebook to establish a bipartisan, blue ribbon commission to address the election interference and censorship issues outlined in the report “in the spirit of openness and transparency.”
Meta did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
“Facebook was just as bad as Google in the 2020 presidential election. We’re seeing some signs that Facebook may be pulling back on its massive censorship efforts. As Google’s election interference is now on the rise, if Facebook actually followed suit If it does, it would be a welcome change from “its CEO’s approach to keeping the company out of the election campaign business,” Schneider told Fox News Digital.
