Rep. Matt Gaetz filed a criminal referral against Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg for making what the congressman called “materially false statements” to Congress while under oath during two joint hearings in 2018.
During the hearings in April 2018, Zuckerberg “repeatedly and categorically” denied that his company engaged in bias against conservative speech, persons, policies, or politics, Gaetz’s office said. Zuckerberg also denied his company “censored and suppressed” content supportive of President Trump and others who support him.
“Oversight is an essential part of Congress’ constitutional authority,” Gaetz said in a letter to Attorney General William Barr on Monday. “As a member of this body, I question Mr. Zuckerberg’s veracity, and challenge his willingness to cooperate with our oversight authority, diverting congressional resources during time-sensitive investigations, and materially impeding our work. Such misrepresentations are not only unfair, they are potentially illegal and fraudulent.”
Gaetz, a Republican from Florida, pointed to an undercover investigation by media watchdog group Project Veritas that reported what it alleged to be a systematic bias among Facebook’s “content moderators,” employees who screen posts for potential violations of platform policy.
“This alone is already an indication of bias within the platform,” Gaetz said in his letter to Barr. “Additionally, these facts are in direct contrast to Mr. Zuckerberg’s testimony before Congress where he stated under oath that Facebook is a politically-neutral platform, and that he personally is working to root out any employees who are restricting speech based on Silicon Valley’s overwhelmingly leftist culture.”
In recent weeks, Zuckerberg has been on the receiving end of criticism from some of his employees who say he is too hesitant to ban speech from Trump and others they deem offensive.
“The hateful rhetoric advocating violence against black demonstrators by the US President does not warrant defense under the guise of freedom of expression,” one employee wrote on an internal company message board.
“Personally, I have a visceral negative reaction to this kind of divisive and inflammatory rhetoric,” Zuckerberg said in June about a series of Facebook posts on Trump’s account during protests following George Floyd’s death. “But I’m responsible for reacting not just in my personal capacity but as the leader of an institution committed to free expression.”
