The US Senator John Kennedy has called for an objective third party to audit Facebook and validate whether the company is censoring conservative news, views, and personalities.
“If Facebook is serious about convincing both Democrats and Republicans that it is unbiased and impartial, then Facebook needs to invite in a third party, an objective third party, to do an audit and see if it is true as was alleged by former Facebook employees,” said Sen. Kennedy.
This announcement came after the former US Senator Jon Kyl released an eight-page report that was commissioned by Facebook, and prepared by the former senator and his law firm. The report, titled “Covington Interim Report” concluded that the social media giant has the potential to restrict “free expression.”
The interim report published by Jon Kyl and his associates was criticized for not accounting the concerns of conservatives, and for being highly biased towards Facebook. The fact that Sen. Kennedy asked for an “objective” third-party validates the same.
In an interview with Fox News on Wednesday, Sen. Kennedy said that he was skeptical about Facebook being impartial and honest.
“Facebook is a fine American company, a great success story. I’m proud of them, but Facebook has a casual relationship with the truth. And let’s face the facts, Facebook is no longer a company, it’s a country. It’s got 2 billion users. It can influence what we buy, how we vote, what we think, even how we feel,” remarked Sen. Kennedy.
Senator Kennedy also pointed out to the fact that several former Facebook employees had revealed several insights about how the company actively suppressed information from conservatives and promotes left-leaning news and propaganda.
Kyl’s report on Facebook said that they will continue to “analyze the issues that conservatives are most concerned about.”
“We have waited over a year for Facebook to properly address the long list of issues raised by the conservative movement, but have received nothing of substance in return,” said Brent Bozell, president of Media Research Center.
Former Sen. Kyl was hired by Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg last year in April after the House E&C leaders hammered the tech giant with regards to the company’s data practices.
