Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg has been facing a lot of scrutiny over conservative YouTube stars Diamond and Silk being limited on their platform after his staff labeled them as “unsafe for the community.”
Zuckerberg appeared before the Energy and Commerce Committee of the House of Representatives in Washington today for the second day of questioning where he claimed that Facebook’s censoring of Diamond and Silk was the result of an “enforcement error.”
Rep. Joe Barton, a Republican representing Texas’s 6th congressional district and vice-chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, said to Zuckerberg; “I’m going to read you a question that I was asked, I got this through Facebook and I’ve got dozens like this.”
Barton then quoted a question he was sent via Facebook which reads;
“‘Please ask Mr. Zuckerberg why is Facebook censoring conservative bloggers such as Diamond and Silk. Facebook called them unsafe to the community, that is ludicrous, they hold conservative views, that isn’t unsafe.’ What’s your response to that?” asked Barton.
In response, Zuckerberg claimed it was an enforcement error.
“Congressman, in that specific case,” replied Zuckerberg; “our team made an enforcement error. And we have already gotten in touch with them to reverse it.”
A spokesperson for Facebook recently told the Washington Post that they had made an error in labeling Diamond and Silk “unsafe to the community.” The spokesperson stated:
We have communicated directly with Diamond And Silk about this issue. The message they received last week was inaccurate and not reflective of the way we communicate with our community and the people who run Pages on our platform. We have provided them with more information about our policies and the tools that are applicable to their Page and look forward to the opportunity to speak with them.
However, Diamond and Silk say they have not heard from Facebook since being branded “unsafe to the community.” In an interview, the ladies stated;
“We have not heard from Facebook, they have not communicated with us. We haven’t talked to them by phone. We haven’t heard from Facebook.” Senator Ted Cruz also questioned Zuckerberg over the banning of Diamond and Silk in a hearing with Zuckerberg yesterday, the Facebook CEO said at the time that Silicon Valley was “an extremely left-leaning place,” but that “I try to root out in the company is making sure we don’t have any bias in the work we do, and I think it is a fair concern that people would wonder about.”
It is unfortunate that the senators who asked Zuckerberg the questions about Diamond and Silk were not aware that other conservative sites have been equally branded and censored, as well as some sites who Facebook has shut down. There are also the thousands of conservatives who have been receiving timeouts for posts from as far back as 2014 in an effort to silence them.
The truth is that Facebook has been taking steps to silence President Trump’s base in an effort to assist, and ensure that the Democrats take the House, and possibly the Senate.
