Facebook and Twitter executives were left speechless during a hearing before the Senate Judiciary subcommittee Wednesday when Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, brought out a previously blocked tweet with a quote from Mother Teresa and asked if it was considered hate speech.
“It’s not just political, it’s also ideological,” Cruz said. “There have been multiple instances of, in particular pro-life groups, being disfavored. For example, here is a tweet that says that ‘abortion is profoundly anti-women’ and it’s a quote from Mother Teresa and this tweet was blocked. Now it’s fairly remarkable that Mother Teresa is now deemed hate speech. Do either of you agree with the proposition that Mother Teresa is issuing hate speech?”
Cruz’s question left Carlos Monje Jr. and Neil Potts, who work as public policy directors for Twitter and Facebook respectively, silent for 12 seconds before Monje Jr. spoke up to inform Cruz that, currently, the account, which belongs to the Susan B. Anthony List president Marjorie Dannenfelser, was in good standing as an advertiser with Twitter. However, Cruz quickly responded telling Monje Jr. that he was “very good at not answering questions.” When asked again, Monje Jr. did not answer yes or no, instead insisting that every tweet has context behind it.
When asked by @tedcruz if a quote by Mother Teresa was “hate speech,” two Public Policy Directors from Facebook and Twitter were left speechless for 12 SECONDS.
When Twitter’s director spoke up, he tried to dodge the question twice. pic.twitter.com/kALeCK1m8m
— Washington Examiner (@dcexaminer) April 10, 2019
The 2017 tweet in question was blocked briefly before accounts associated with the Susan B. Anthony List reached an “uneasy peace” with Twitter, allowing them to promote content as an advertiser. The tweet, which is no longer blocked, is a graphic of Mother Teresa with a quote attributed to her: “Abortion is profoundly anti-women. Three quarters of its victims are women: Half the babies and all the mothers.”
Abortion is profoundly anti-women. – Mother Teresa #daywithoutawoman @SBAList pic.twitter.com/h44tF63ehP
— MarjorieDannenfelser (@marjoriesba) March 8, 2017
Cruz promised to follow through with written questions to Twitter about the possible blocking of pro-abortion groups over ideology, but thanked Monje Jr. for pointing out that some pro-abortion groups had also suffered blocked content due to harmful statements made by those groups. Potts, when asked, stated that the quote in and of itself wouldn’t be in violation of Facebook’s policies.
Twitter said that they have not taken action against the tweet. Mother Teresa, now known as St. Teresa of Calcutta, was canonized by the Catholic Church after her death in 1997. She was a noted philanthropist who ran a congregation focused on providing aid to the poorest of the poor.
