Zuckerberg Says Facebook Will Be 'Neutral.' Too Little, Too Late

Debra Saunders on Aug 28, 2024

WASHINGTON -- Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg released a letter Monday in which he expressed regret for Facebook's decision to give in to pressure to censor "certain COVID content, including humor and satire" in 2021.

Zuckerberg even stipulated that the pressure came from the Biden campaign in 2020 and the Biden White House, whose targets included humor and satire.

It appears there is no joy in Bidenland.

No worries, Zuckerberg assured the public. "We're ready to push back if something like this happens again."

The letter's recipient, House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan, hailed the letter as a "big win for free speech."

I don't believe Zuckerberg's claim for a minute. I don't believe that Facebook will stand up to government pressure if Kamala Harris wins in November. Methinks the social media giant will resist only if Donald Trump wins.

And really, Zuckerberg must think his critics are absolute idiots if he believes they'll buy his newfound support for, as his letter claimed, "promoting speech and helping people connect in a safe and secure way."

No, that's the lie Silicon Valley tells to make Big Tech look open to dissenting viewpoints. When really, Facebook's zeal to do government censors' dirty work in elections past speaks for itself.

In the letter, Zuckerberg addressed Facebook's original sin in the 2020 presidential campaign. The FBI warned about a "potential Russian disinformation operation" against the Biden family (read: Hunter) and Ukraine energy concern Burisma. Facebook dutifully "demoted" the New York Post scoop on Hunter Biden's laptop.

Facebook got played. As its CEO noted, the swells of Silicon Valley slow-walked the fact-checking of a good story only to learn after the election that the New York Post's reporting was not the fruit of disinformation -- it was the FBI, according to the letter, that spread falsehoods to mislead voters.

If Russia had done this, the left would have branded what the feds did as election interference. Now it's just old news.

Be it noted that the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative, a group founded by the CEO and his wife, Priscilla Chan, has donated big bucks to left-wing causes, including $750,000 Chan gave to fight the effort to recall California Gov. Gavin Newsom, according to Open Secrets. In 2016, Zuckerberg donated $1 million to FWD.us, which wants to "reform" immigration and the criminal justice system.

The man ranked the fourth-richest person in the world by Forbes has contributed to the occasional Republican, but when Zuckerberg contributed directly to campaigns, the overwhelming share of his largess went to Democrats.

Of course, Zuckerberg is free to direct his money toward the political causes he holds dear. But he is not going to convince conservatives that he is "neutral."

Democrats deserve credit for their early embrace of Big Tech. In 1999, Vice President Al Gore bragged to CNN about his role in creating the internet. In the 2008 presidential race, Barack Obama became the first presidential hopeful to use Facebook and other social-media platforms to create an army of online volunteers.

Then came lightning from the right, with Trump's deft use of Twitter. Suddenly there was a dark side to politicians bypassing the media and communicating directly with voters.

So Zuckerberg says he wants to be neutral -- and we all know what that means.

Contact Review-Journal Washington columnist Debra J. Saunders at dsaunders@reviewjournal.com. Follow @debrajsaunders on X.

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