Sen. Ted Cruz on Tuesday pressured Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg to explain what many see as Facebook’s censorship of conservatives, saying Americans are worried about the platform’s “pervasive pattern of political bias.”
“There are a great many Americans who I think are deeply concerned that Facebook and other tech companies are engaged in a pervasive pattern of bias and political censorship,” the Texas Republican told Zuckerberg during a joint hearing before the Senate Commerce and Judiciary committees on Tuesday.
Cruz cited several examples of conservative views being suppressed on Facebook, including a “Chick-fil-A Appreciation Day” page launched by former Republican Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee that was reportedly shut down in 2012. Most recently, Trump supporters Diamond and Silk were told by Facebook their “content and brand” was “unsafe to the community.”
“To a great many Americans, that appears to be a pervasive pattern of political bias,” Cruz reiterated.
The senator asked Zuckerberg whether he was aware of any pages from Planned Parenthood or MoveOn.org being removed or blocked from the platform, and Zuckerberg said he was not.
Zuckerberg didn’t have specific answers for Cruz, but said he considers Facebook to be a “platform for all ideas” and is concerned with the suggestion the company stifles certain political views.
“I understand where that concern is coming from, because Facebook and the tech industry are located in Silicon Valley, which is an extremely left-leaning place,” Zuckerberg said. “This is actually a concern that I have and that I try to root out in the company, is making sure that we don’t have any bias in the work that we do, and I think it is a fair concern that people would wonder about.”
But he conceded there are activities society would largely agree are “clearly bad,” including foreign interference in an election, terrorism, or self-harm, and said Facebook is proud of its efforts to remove that content.
“I am very committed to making sure that Facebook is a platform for all ideas. That is a very important founding principle of what we do,” Zuckerberg said. “We’re proud of the discourse and the different ideas people can share on the service. That is something that, as long as I’m running the company, I’m going to be committed to making sure is the case.”
