Ted Cruz Questions Mark Zuckerberg about Facebook's 'Pervasive Pattern of Bias' against Conservatives

Veronica Neffinger | iBelieve Contributor | Updated: Apr 11, 2018

Ted Cruz Questions Mark Zuckerberg about Facebook's 'Pervasive Pattern of Bias' against Conservatives

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg testified before a joint session of the Senate Commerce and Judiciary committees yesterday and answered questions about Facebook’s responsibility in the abuse of user data and fake news.

Zuckerberg was also specifically and pointedly interrogated by Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) regarding Facebook’s alleged bias against conservatives and conservative pages and causes.

Cruz read Zuckerberg and the Congressional committee a long list of Facebook’s censorship of conservative sites and then questioned whether Zuckerberg was aware of this bias.

“There are a great many Americans who I would say are deeply concerned that Facebook and other tech companies are engaged in a pervasive pattern of bias and political censorship,” said Cruz, as reported by TheHill.com. “To a great many Americans, that appears to be a pervasive pattern of political bias.”

Zuckerberg acknowledged that bias on Facebook was something he was concerned about as well. “This is actually a concern that I have, and that I try to root out at the company — is making sure that we don’t have any bias in the work that we do. I think it is a fair concern that people would at least wonder about.”

Cruz continued to press Zuckerberg on whether he was aware of any time Facebook restricted a post or page of a left-leaning organization such as Planned Parenthood to which Zuckerberg said he was not aware of any instances of this.

Zuckerberg will testify again today--this time before the House Energy and Commerce Committee.

 

Photo: Facebook co-founder, Chairman and CEO Mark Zuckerberg testifies before a combined Senate Judiciary and Commerce committee hearing in the Hart Senate Office Building on Capitol Hill April 10, 2018 in Washington, DC. Zuckerberg, 33, was called to testify after it was reported that 87 million Facebook users had their personal information harvested by Cambridge Analytica, a British political consulting firm linked to the Trump campaign. 

Photo courtesy: Alex Wong/Getty Images

Publication date: April 11, 2018



Ted Cruz Questions Mark Zuckerberg about Facebook's 'Pervasive Pattern of Bias' against Conservatives