Mark Zuckerberg surprised the world this week by announcing that Meta would embrace free speech on platforms like Facebook, Instagram and Threads. But to keep the billionaire's promise to rid these platforms of bias and censorship, he must first acknowledge that conservatives have faced egregious levels of censorship on Zuckerberg's platforms since 2016. No. Here are six particularly egregious examples from Zuckerberg's ignominious reign as the internet's arbiter. truth.
On Tuesday, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced major changes to Facebook and Instagram's content moderation policies, citing a desire to respect free speech and avoid censorship. Zuckerberg said one of the first steps would be to eliminate Facebook's third-party “fact-checking” system, which is notorious for its left-wing bias.
While many agree with Zuckerberg's statement that his platform will pivot to an agenda that supports free speech, Meta CEO merely conceded defeat to Waychism after the 2024 presidential election. Some people argue that it looks like they're trying to jump on the MAGA bandwagon. to protect their own interests.
Whatever his actual motives, Breitbart News will be closely monitoring and reporting on whether Facebook and Instagram are delivering on Mr. Zuckerberg's promises. To remind readers how much censorship has been implemented on Zack's platform for the better part of the past decade, Facebook and others have tried to suppress Breitbart News, Donald Trump, and the entire conservative movement. Here are six examples from Instagram.
1) Hide the story from hell on Hunter Biden's laptop
Mr. Zuckerberg recently admitted that his company had allowed the government to use it to censor bombshell reporting. new york post Talk about the 2020 presidential election. Mr Zuckerberg said in August that Facebook had failed to explain Hunter Biden's He admitted that he deleted the article “Laptop”. Meta's CEO admitted that his company “should not have demoted Story.”
2) Creation of a leftist “fact checker” industry
Meta infamously introduced third-party “fact checkers” to both its Facebook and Instagram platforms, putting the visibility of users' content in the hands of people who flagged posts based on opinion rather than fact. It was entrusted to me. The majority of these “fact checkers” exhibit far-left bias, allowing Zuckerberg's platform to reduce the reach of articles based on often stupid or completely inaccurate fact checks. are.
3) 45% of Donald Trump's engagements ended in 2018
Since the platform introduced new algorithm changes in early 2018, engagement with President Donald Trump's Facebook posts has declined by about 45%. This followed a year of pressure from mainstream media, politicians and left-wing officials for “allowing” Trump to win the 2016 election. Before Trump's Facebook account plummeted, the company had announced major changes to its News Feed algorithm, with Zuckerberg saying its goal was to focus on “friends, family, and media” rather than “companies, brands, and media.” He insisted that posts from “groups” should be given priority.
However, when comparing President Trump's engagement with Facebook to that of prominent Democratic politicians, the 45th president's politicians did not appear to have experienced a similar decline.
4) President Donald Trump’s entry ban
Meta's CEO blacklisted incumbent US President Trump from both Facebook and Instagram “indefinitely” in early 2021. The company justified its actions in part in a statement.
For the past several years, we have allowed President Trump to use our platform according to his own rules, including removing content and labeling posts that violate our policies. Ta. We did this because we believe the public has the right to the broadest possible access to political speech, even controversial speech. However, the current situation is fundamentally different and involves our platform being used to incite violent rebellion against democratically elected governments.
We believe the risks of allowing the President to continue using our services during this period are too great. Therefore, we are extending the blocks we have placed on his Facebook and Instagram accounts indefinitely and for at least the next two weeks until the peaceful transition of power is complete.
Incredibly, this ban lasted until February 2023.
5) Revoking the status of an ordinary person due to “wrong information”
Immediately after banning Trump, Facebook focused on Trump's followers, regular Facebook users. Zuckerberg's company found that the social media giant and its army of opinionated left-wing “fact checkers” were spreading content deemed “misinformation” even though they struggled to define the term. He vowed to ban anyone who did so.
6) Block the reach of political content
In 2021, Facebook adjusted its algorithm to reduce the visibility of political posts, a move that hurt the best-performing political pages on the platform, most of which are conservative. Zuckerberg did not say at the time who gave the feedback, insisting that users were not interested in seeing political content. As part of the recent announcement, Zuckerberg specifically acknowledged that the company would expose its political content algorithms and claimed that Americans were suddenly interested in watching politics on their social media feeds again. .
Mark Zuckerberg promised a new era of free speech on Facebook and Instagram, but to make it happen he will battle the deep state, censorship cartels, academia and his own employees. Breitbart News will continue reporting on Zuckerberg's changes at Meta in the coming days.
Alana Mastrangelo is a reporter for Breitbart News. you can follow her facebook And with X @ARmastrangeloand further Instagram.
