Mark Zuckerberg Archives - National Legal & Policy Center

After Censoring Conservatives, Zuckerberg Cozies Up to Biden

Posted on December 2, 2020December 2, 2020 by Paul Chesser

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 November 11, 2020November 11, 2020 by Paul Chesser

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 September 16, 2020September 16, 2020 by Paul Chesser

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. 3^rd 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 July 15, 2020July 15, 2020 by Paul Chesser

Well, at least they walked away “disappointed.”

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 ➡

Tech Giants Bankroll Extremists; Fuel False Narrative

Posted on June 5, 2020June 5, 2020 by Paul Chesser

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 ➡

Twitter Drops Pretense of Neutrality by Censoring Trump

Posted on May 30, 2020May 30, 2020 by Peter Flaherty

Twitter has now tried to censor the President of the United States, dropping any pretense of neutrality. On issues of race, Twitter’s neutrality was always a myth anyway.

As the National Legal and Policy Center criticized, Twitter and its CEO Jack Dorsey embraced Black Lives Matter in 2014 at a time when its activists were cheering on, or rationalizing away, the murder of police officers.

Dorsey even unveiled a #blacklivesmatter wall painting at company headquarters. He was photographed with BLM activist DeRay McKesson, both clenching fists.

Clenched fists are not symbols of neutrality, or even of the weak confronting the strong. Instead, clenched fists are meant to threaten and intimidate.

In 2015, McKesson defended looting as a legitimate form of political protest in a talk at Yale University. McKesson ran for mayor of burned-out Baltimore and got 2.6%, but he was much more popular in Silicon Valley … Read More ➡

Zuckerberg Quashes Dissent About Social Distancing on Facebook

Posted on April 21, 2020April 21, 2020 by Paul Chesser

If you are among the thousands of Americans who advocate for the reopening of the economy of your state from lockdown measures by governors, and you also believe social distancing guidelines are not the best health policy to attack the Chinese coronavirus, then Mark Zuckerberg thinks you should be censored on Facebook.

That’s what came out of an interview the social media CEO gave George Stephanopoulos of ABC News on Monday’s “Good Morning America,” in which Zuckerberg said he had an army of “fact-checkers” at the ready to censor what his teams deem as “harmful misinformation.”

“How do you deal with the fact that Facebook is now being used to organize a lot of these protests to defy social distancing, and defy the social distancing guidelines in the states?” Stephanopoulos asked. “If someone is trying to organize something like that, does that qualify as harmful information?”

“Certainly, … Read More ➡

Hypocritical CNN Overseer Blasts Facebook’s Lack of ‘Editorial Integrity’

Posted on March 10, 2020March 10, 2020 by Paul Chesser

The knock against Facebook that is getting the most attention right now is that CEO Mark Zuckerberg has said the platform will not act as arbiters of truth and falsehood for political candidates’ posts and ads.

Current and former political candidates like Hillary Clinton and Sen. Elizabeth Warren have argued that it is irresponsible for the company to not be watchdogs for truth. For his part, Zuckerberg has said essentially that Facebook users are fully capable (through comments) of policing truth vs. fiction and that free speech, not censorship, should be paramount.

As the left’s attacks on Facebook get more hysterical – thanks to President Donald Trump’s smashing success in using the platform – critics are emerging seemingly everywhere, calling for increased accountability through government regulation, because the social media company has “too much power.”

Besides the politicians, a top corporate executive has also spoken out against … Read More ➡

Left Turns Against Facebook; Demands Censorship of Trump

Posted on January 17, 2020January 17, 2020 by Paul Chesser

Donald Trump/PHOTO: Gage Skidmore via Creative Commons

If there was any doubt about why the political Left has suddenly turned against Facebook, it has become clear: It is because they think the social media behemoth is helping President Donald Trump.

Revelations last week by top executive Andrew Bosworth, a vice president who was in charge of advertising during the 2016 election season, won’t disabuse liberals of that. Bosworth, however, did not give Facebook credit for the Trump campaign’s success in 2016 – rather, he attributed it to where it belonged.

“He ran the single best digital ad campaign I’ve ever seen from any advertiser. Period,” Bosworth wrote in a private Facebook post that he later made public after the New York Times published a story about it.

“[Digital Director Brad] Parscale and Trump just did unbelievable work,” added Bosworth, a self-proclaimed liberal who is reportedly close to CEO … Read More ➡

Is Facebook’s Zuckerberg a Free-Speech Convert or Just Staving Off Regulation?

Posted on December 20, 2019December 20, 2019 by Paul Chesser

So has Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg suddenly become a free speech devotee?

If you observe how the political Left is reacting and obsessing over his decision last month to not police political advertisements, you’d think he might have.

His announcement was juxtaposed against the polar opposite move of social media rival Twitter, and its CEO Jack Dorsey, who in early November said his platform would completely ban political ads. The contrast between the two near-simultaneous declarations likely heightened the blowback against Facebook.

The policy means that Facebook won’t subject political ads placed by candidates or advocacy groups to the site’s fact-checking review, as it does with news articles. Nor will ads accused of being false be removed.

Specifically, Zuckerberg said, “In a democracy, I don’t think it’s right for public companies to censor policies or the news.” He downplayed the speculation that he was allowing the ads … Read More ➡