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Facebook Oversight Board Gives Zuckerberg 6 Months to Fix Trump Ban

Posted on by NLPC Staff
Mark Zuckerberg

You wouldn’t know it from the headlines but the Oversight Board found:  

“It was not appropriate for Facebook to impose the indeterminate and standardless penalty of indefinite suspension.”

“Facebook did not follow a clear published procedure in this case.”

“It is not permissible for Facebook to keep a user off the platform for an undefined period, with no criteria for when or whether the account will be restored.”

“Facebook refused to answer several questions related to Trump’s news feed visibility.”

The Board rejected “Facebook’s request for it to endorse indefinite restrictions, imposed and lifted without clear criteria.”

It also found “Appropriate limits on discretionary powers are crucial to distinguish the legitimate use of discretion from possible scenarios around the world in which Facebook may unduly silence speech not linked to harm or delay action critical to protecting people.”

Click here to read the decision.

https://oversightboard.com/decision/FB-691QAMHJ/
… Read More ➡

Tech Billionaires Bankroll Black Lives Matter Co-Founder Patrisse Cullors as She Lobbies for ‘Net Neutrality’

Posted on by NLPC Staff
Jack Dorsey/PHOTO: jdlasica (CC)

Isabel Vincent has this today in the New York Post:

Big Tech has showered Black Lives Matter co-founder Patrisse Khan-Cullors’ PAC and charities with millions in donations — and censors her online critics — as she backs their battle to control the internet.

Philanthropists linked to Facebook, Twitter and Netflix have donated more than $7.5 million to a host of non-profits controlled by Khan-Cullors, who has helped them lobby for “net neutrality.”

From the article:

“Is Black Lives Matter for rent?” said Peter Flaherty, chairman of the National Legal and Policy Center. “Charities are not supposed to be vehicles for corporate lobbying, particularly on matters outside the charity’s mission.”

Click here to read the whole story in the New York Post.

… Read More ➡

California AG Says Group Chaired by Black Lives Matter Founder Patrisse Cullors Hasn’t Made Required Disclosures

Posted on by NLPC Staff

Fred Lucas in the Daily Signal has this:

Patrisse Cullors

California officials have issued three warnings to a nonprofit group started by Black Lives Matter co-founder Patrisse Cullors that it has failed to file required financial disclosures.

In September and again in February and March, the California Attorney General’s Office notified Cullors’ organization, Dignity and Power Now, that it was delinquent in filing the financial information, according to documents obtained by The Daily Signal. 

From the same article:

The California Attorney General’s Office gave The Daily Signal a copy of the March letter. The National Legal and Policy Center provided the previous letters, one dated Sept. 4 and the other Feb. 2, to The Daily Signal. 

Also:

The Virginia-based National Legal and Policy Center, which tracks nonprofits, monitors the finances of nonprofit groups associated with Cullors. NLPC Chairman Peter Flaherty said it is important to know where … Read More ➡

Facebook Billionaire Bankrolled BLM Founders’ Groups; Now Facebook Censors Real Estate Story

Posted on by NLPC Staff

This from Alana Goodman in the Washington Free Beacon today:

Dustin Moskovitz

Facebook cofounder Dustin Moskovitz has poured over $5 million into a network of nonprofits run by Black Lives Matter leader Patrisse Cullors, according to financial disclosure records, raising questions about whether this relationship played a role in the company’s decision to censor unflattering news articles about the activist last week.

The social media giant blocked its users from posting links to a New York Post story that revealed Cullors, a self-described Marxist, spent $3.2 million on high-end real estate as her Black Lives Matter Global Network Foundation raked in millions in donations.

Also from the article:

The National Legal and Policy Center, a watchdog group that has been monitoring Facebook’s financial activities and Moskovitz’s charitable records, criticized the company’s decision to block reporting on Cullors.

“We think this, once again, proves freedom of speech is an option not a … Read More ➡

After Censoring Conservatives, Zuckerberg Cozies Up to Biden

Posted on by Paul Chesser
Mark Zuckerberg

Free (he thinks) from a Trump administration that constantly harps on his company’s censorship of conservatives, CEO Mark Zuckerberg reportedly plans to promote progressive agenda items on Facebook in order to ingratiate himself with an expected President Joe Biden.

Not exactly the favorite social media platform of liberals – who think Facebook has granted President Donald Trump and his supporters too much liberty on the site to spread “misinformation,” “hate speech” and non-“expert” (think Anthony Fauci) opinions – Zuckerberg feels he has some making up to do with the Democrats he expects to be in power starting in 2021.

While not considered the threat that is Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren, who is known for her advocacy to “break up Big Tech,” Biden still isn’t happy with Facebook. He criticized the platform because it refused to fact-check political advertisements, and earlier this year called for the … Read More ➡

Censorship Epidemic on Facebook, Google, Twitter Drives Users to Alternatives

Posted on by Paul Chesser
Sundar Pichai/IMAGE: YouTube

By now the election interference by Big Tech – specifically Facebook, Google, and Twitter– is indisputable.

Also indisputable is that Congress will be powerless to alter their behavior, with at least another two years of guaranteed gridlock preventing the removal of Big Tech’s exemption under Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act, which says the online companies are like telecoms AT&T and Verizon (meaning they are protected from litigation) rather than news producers like the New York Times and Fox News (not protected from litigation).

Sure, you can expect more hearings like the one before the Senate Commerce Committee the week before Election Day, in which CEOs Mark Zuckerberg (Facebook), Sundar Pichai (Google) and Jack Dorsey (Twitter) were berated about their corporate underlings’ bias and censorship.

But it was just a repeat of previous Congressional theatrics: a lot of noise, and no action.… Read More ➡

Not Content to Censor Conservatives, Zuckerberg Now Seeks to Meddle in Election

Posted on by Paul Chesser
Mark Zuckerberg

It didn’t take long after Mark Zuckerberg proclaimed that free speech would reign on Facebook– and specifically that political candidates would not have their posts removed or altered ahead of the 2020 elections – for him to renege.

The company announced earlier this month it would ban any new political ads during the week leading up to the Nov. 3rd election. But Facebook has continued its censorship throughout the year, despite Zuckerberg’s declaration last fall.

And Zuckerberg seems more-than-prepared to meddle in the election and its results before, during, and after the results come in. While he does not appear to support any political candidates or PACs this cycle (his name doesn’t show up in campaign finance reports, unlike in the past), he and the Silicon Valley leftists in his employ wield Facebook’s potent platform to amplify messages they want to give wider attention to, … Read More ➡

Facebook Holds Boycotters at Bay While Already Censoring Conservatives

Posted on by Paul Chesser

Well, at least they walked away “disappointed.”

Mark Zuckerberg

That would be the race-stoking groups whose focus is to divide Americans according to color, gender and religion. They all practice intimidating, coercive tactics to force compliance with their demands, which always align with a radical progressive agenda.

The company that disappointed them — surprisingly — is Facebook. Top executives, including CEO Mark Zuckerberg, met with groups like the NAACP, Color of Change, and the Anti-Defamation League to discuss whether the company would submit to their ultimatums – with their nebulously-defined demand to “stop hate speech” as their theme.

The organizations marched into the online virtual boardroom of the social media giant under the umbrella of one of those collaborative-sounding names that make them sound bigger than they are – this one is called “Stop Hate for Profit.” They would be more appropriately called “Stop Donald Trump.”… Read More ➡

Are Facebook and Twitter Finally Paying the Price for Censorship of Conservatives?

Posted on by Paul Chesser
Screen grab of Sen. Rand Paul’s Parler account.

Has the dam broken following the build-up of conservative frustration over one-sided censorship against them by Facebook and Twitter?

Evidence of that – which had built up for weeks – turned into a flood over the last ten days.

What had been a quiet trend of sign-ups by publicly known conservatives – including many elected officials – turned into an out-and-out campaign to urge followers to join them in social media alternative platform Parler (originally “Par-lay” per the French spelling; apparently the English literal pronunciation is acceptable now too). According to report by Business Insider, tech data trackers said Parler reached No. 2 for Top News apps on the App Store.

“According to data Sensor Tower has provided to Business Insider, Parler has seen a 246% increase in US downloads this week compared with a week prior,” the site … Read More ➡

Tech Giants Bankroll Extremists; Fuel False Narrative

Posted on by Paul Chesser
Jack Dorsey/PHOTO: jdlasica (CC)

Following the death of George Floyd at the hands of an out-of-control Minneapolis police officer, and demonstrations mixed with riots across the country, many American corporations weighed in with official statements or financial support for causes – or both.

Unfortunately the involvement of some put them more on the side of divisiveness than unity, at a time when the country needs the latter the most.

Ultimately many of the companies and/or their top-ranking officers got behind (again) the dubious narrative that there is “systemic racism” in law enforcement, and that minorities are disproportionately treated as suspects – or singled out for violent police tactics – more than whites. As Manhattan Institute fellow Heather Mac Donald and former US Attorney Andrew McCarthy explained earlier this week, citing very convincing statistics, the idea there is structural bias in policing is a myth.

“However sickening the video of Floyd’s … Read More ➡