{"id":114317,"date":"2019-01-22T18:35:46","date_gmt":"2019-01-22T22:35:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/?p=114317"},"modified":"2019-01-22T18:35:46","modified_gmt":"2019-01-22T22:35:46","slug":"big-social-media-opposes-free-speech-censors-users-like-theres-no-tomorrow","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/?p=114317","title":{"rendered":"Big Social Media Opposes Free Speech, Censors Users Like There&#8217;s No Tomorrow"},"content":{"rendered":"<h1>Facebook doesn&#8217;t really believe in free speech. What they believe in (and actively practice) is censorship<\/h1>\n<p><!--more-->By L. Brent Bozell III | Fox News<\/p>\n<h5><script type=\"text\/javascript\" src=\"https:\/\/video.foxnews.com\/v\/embed.js?id=5984585396001&#038;w=466&#038;h=263\"><\/script><noscript>Watch the latest video at <a href=\"https:\/\/www.foxnews.com\">foxnews.com<\/a><\/noscript><\/p>\n<p>Facebook apologizes after temporarily banning Reverend Franklin Graham<br \/>\nReverend Graham responds.<\/h5>\n<p class=\"speakable\">It\u2019s a new year, but Americans are fighting a battle as old as the nation itself. It\u2019s the battle to preserve our\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.foxnews.com\/category\/us\/personal-freedoms\/first-amendment\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">free speech<\/a>\u00a0and for the first time we\u2019re losing \u2014 badly.<\/p>\n<p class=\"speakable\">The new front lines of this fight are on\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.foxnews.com\/category\/tech\/topics\/big-tech-backlash\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">social media<\/a>\u00a0\u2014\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.foxnews.com\/category\/tech\/companies\/facebook\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Facebook<\/a>, Twitter, Google, Instagram and others.<\/p>\n<p>2.5 billion people use at least one of Facebook\u2019s apps, making it probably the most important social media platform. Unfortunately, its employees, from the CEO on down, don\u2019t really believe in free speech. They believe in and actively practice censorship on a scale almost unimaginable a few years ago.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.foxnews.com\/opinion\/facebook-other-tech-giants-should-stop-suppressing-speech\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><strong>FACEBOOK, OTHER TECH GIANTS SHOULD STOP SUPPRESSING SPEECH<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Facebook\u2019s embattled founder and CEO\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.foxnews.com\/tech\/facebooks-zuckerberg-blasted-for-out-of-touch-year-end-post-after-scandal-plagued-2018\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Mark Zuckerberg<\/a>\u00a0and its Chief Operating Officer Sheryl Sandberg seem determined to make the situation worse. After declaring to Congress their commitment to neutrality, they made end-of-year pronouncements that both promised more censorship, and appeased the far left by vowing to involve them with \u201cnew products, features and policies.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Facebook is now openly antagonistic toward the right. Posts aren\u2019t just blocked by humans who decide what they do or don\u2019t like; they are blocked by computer programs designed by humans to ensure liberal sensibilities are not offended. The New York Times says the company is monitoring \u201cbillions of posts per day in over 100 languages.\u201d That makes what Facebook is doing almost impossible to track, until it\u2019s too late.<\/p>\n<p>The Times described a global network with more than 15,000 employees assessing content based on\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.foxnews.com\/tech\/facebooks-massive-secret-rulebook-for-policing-speech-reveals-inconsistencies-gaps-and-biases?fbclid=IwAR1WtX3LWHV0Y4XmwqRT42OQ6ddqfmvsdJU7QFQSs9AjsYcVIU83IKxdDFM\">rulebooks<\/a>\u00a0more than 1,400 pages long. The rules secretly designate groups as hate organizations and are so specific they even ban certain emoji use. Hate speech mandates alone run \u201c200 jargon-filled, head-spinning pages,\u201d wrote The Times.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"pull-quote\">\n<p class=\"quote-text\">Facebook is now openly antagonistic toward the right. Posts aren\u2019t just blocked by humans who decide what they do or don\u2019t like; they are blocked by computer programs designed by humans to ensure liberal sensibilities are not offended.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>The result is chaos. There\u2019s no consistency in what Facebook bans or doesn\u2019t ban \u2014 except that conservatives suffer.\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.newsbusters.org\/blogs\/techwatch\/corinne-weaver\/2018\/11\/02\/facebook-apologizes-then-deletes-more-graphic-pro-life-ads\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Pro-life<\/a>,\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.newsbusters.org\/blogs\/culture\/ashley-rae-goldenberg\/2018\/03\/27\/nra-blasts-youtube-political-posturing-over-gun-video\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">pro-gun<\/a>\u00a0and pro-Trump content all run afoul of Facebook\u2019s eager hate speech censors. Just days before the annual March for Life, Facebook blocked advertising for the new pro-life movie &#8220;Roe v. Wade.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Around the Fourth of July, Facebook censored a post for \u201chate speech.\u201d It was the text of the\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/news\/the-intersect\/wp\/2018\/07\/05\/facebook-censored-a-post-for-hate-speech-it-was-the-declaration-of-independence\/?noredirect=on&amp;utm_term=.368a8cca31b2\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Declaration of Independence<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Conservatives like Samaritan\u2019s Purse head\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/video.foxnews.com\/v\/5984585396001\/#sp=show-clips\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Franklin Graham<\/a>\u00a0have been targeted, as well. Graham was suspended recently for a comment he made two years ago. Facebook later apologized.<\/p>\n<p>This is commonplace for conservatives. The company bans, blocks or suspends and then later apologizes \u2026 sometimes.<\/p>\n<p>The radical left has no such worries. Smash Racism DC, the Antifa group that targeted Fox host Tucker Carlson\u2019s home and threatened his wife, is still on the site. So is Splinternews, which posted the personal cell phone number of Trump senior adviser Stephen Miller. Even reprehensible anti-Semite Louis Farrakhan has a Facebook page with more than 1.1 million followers.<\/p>\n<p>Facebook is escalating the problem. In November, Zuckerberg announced a new \u201cBlueprint for Content Governance.\u201d He wrote like he believes in free speech, saying, \u201cThe world is better\u2026when traditional gatekeepers like governments and media companies don&#8217;t control what ideas can be expressed.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>But Facebook does.<\/p>\n<p>Two paragraphs later he asked, \u201cWhat should be the limits to what people can express?\u201d Then he said the site was instituting more content controls that would limit what you see \u201ceven if it doesn&#8217;t actually violate our standards.\u201d That&#8217;s called shadow banning content.<\/p>\n<p>Sandberg followed with an endorsement of the liberal \u201ccivil rights audit\u201d of Facebook that included an ACLU executive and 90 left-wing groups. She called it one of her \u201ctop priorities for 2019.\u201d That audit revealed Facebook had worked so closely with the left that it allowed \u201cseveral civil rights organizations engaged in the civil rights audit to visit [the company\u2019s] election war room.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The report Sandberg endorsed commits Facebook to work with these left-wing groups on \u201ccontent moderation,\u201d elections, and the Orwellian-sounding idea of creating a \u201ccivil rights accountability infrastructure.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>It also expressed the need for \u201cgreater employee diversity.\u201d When liberals say \u201cdiversity,\u201d they mean hiring more liberals from approved special interest groups.<\/p>\n<p>Facebook also engaged the law firm Covington &amp; Burling under former Republican Sen. Jon Kyl of Arizona to audit how Facebook treats conservatives. In theory, that report will get equal attention. But in practice, it won\u2019t. It will detail the complaints conservatives have, and Facebook will throw it away. How can it do otherwise? Sandberg has publicly committed to supporting radical left-wing groups \u2014 against conservatives.<\/p>\n<p>The company has committed a great deal to the left, including \u201caddressing censorship and harmful and potentially discriminating content on the platform.\u201d That is a direct threat against the conservative movement.<\/p>\n<p>The Media Research Center, along with more than 40 other organizations and tens of millions of supporters in our\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.mrc.org\/freespeechalliance#coalition\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Free Speech Alliance<\/a>, has called for just the opposite. We put out four demands that should be endorsed by anyone truly committed to having \u201ca platform for all ideas,\u201d as Zuckerberg stated: 1. more transparency 2. more clarity on hate speech rules 3. an equal seat at the table for conservatives 4. embracing the First Amendment as a model for allowable speech.<\/p>\n<p>Those four demands are firmly in line with America\u2019s foundational principles of free speech. Does Facebook believe in them? Conservatives are concluding that it doesn\u2019t. According to a McLaughlin &amp; Associates\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.newsbusters.org\/blogs\/nb\/nb-staff\/2018\/08\/29\/mrc-poll-conservatives-leaving-facebook-over-censorship-bias\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">poll<\/a>, one-third (32 percent) of self-described conservatives have left or are considering leaving Facebook.<\/p>\n<p>I was in the room when Zuckerberg told a gathering of conservative leaders that if Facebook\u2019s commitment to be the platform for all ideas was not maintained, its business plan would fail. He was right.<\/p>\n<p><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.foxnews.com\/person\/b\/l-brent-bozell-iii\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM BRENT BOZELL<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>___<br \/>\n<a href=\"https:\/\/www.foxnews.com\/opinion\/facebook-doesnt-really-believe-in-free-speech-what-they-believe-in-and-actively-practice-is-censorship\">https:\/\/www.foxnews.com\/opinion\/facebook-doesnt-really-believe-in-free-speech-what-they-believe-in-and-actively-practice-is-censorship<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Facebook doesn&#8217;t really believe in free speech. What they believe in (and actively practice) is censorship<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-114317","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/114317","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=114317"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/114317\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=114317"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=114317"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=114317"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}