Is Facebook “Censoring” Conservative News? Facebook VP Replies.
Here they go again. Following a thinly-sourced report at Gizmodo that Facebook “suppresses” conservative news sites by preventing them from showing up in the Trending News section, the entire right wing universe launched into an orgy of whiny victimhood because they knew this was happening they just knew it! The liberals are oppressing them again!
High-pitched whining instantly began emanating from the upper echelons of conservatism; for example, RNC chairman Reince Priebus screamed FACEBOOK MUST ANSWER!
Facebook must answer for conservative censorship #MakeThisTrend https://t.co/G1cpg1j5Pa pic.twitter.com/4tUA0FZbDf
— Reince Priebus (@Reince) May 9, 2016
Then the Republican majority in the Senate joined the Persecuted Victims’ Chorus, as the chairman of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation sent a letter to Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg demanding ANSWERS DAMN IT! THEY WANT ANSWERS!
“Facebook must answer these serious allegations and hold those responsible to account if there has been political bias in the dissemination of trending news,” said Sen. John Thune, the committee’s Republican chairman, in a statement. “Any attempt by a neutral and inclusive social media platform to censor or manipulate political discussion is an abuse of trust and inconsistent with the values of an open Internet.”
Of course, these are the same people who’ve been trying to destroy the “open Internet” by allowing Internet providers to set levels of service and favor websites that pay them for the privilege, but Republican hypocrisy isn’t really news any more, is it?
So is it true? Is the evil liberal Facebook censoring conservative news?
Well, today Tom Stocky, Facebook’s vice president of search, posted an answer to this question — and he flatly denies anything like this is going on.
But of course, that’s what a sneaky liberal would say, right? This won’t stop the whining; “Facebook censorship” will now be an unquestioned fact to the right wing masses because they really do love playing victim.
It would be interesting to ask these fine upstanding conservatives what the difference is between a Christian bakery that refuses service to gays and a private social network like Facebook. Because there seems to be a bit of a double standard here.