After being accused of civil rights abuses, Facebook had commissioned an independent civil rights audit to prevent discriminations and improve the social media network. But while an audit by “conservative advising partnership” was announced on the last year, the report is yet to be published.
Facebook appointed former Republican Senator Jon Kyl and his team for examining concerns regarding alleged liberal bias on the social media platform. But the report is nowhere to be seen.
“The conservative bias advising partnership will be led by former Arizona Republican Sen. Jon Kyl, along with his team at Covington and Burling, a Washington law firm. Kyl will examine concerns about alleged liberal bias on Facebook, internally and on its services. They will get feedback directly from conservative groups and advise Facebook on the best way to work with these groups moving forward,” reported Axios.
The audit led by the former senator aimed to seek feedback from conservative groups. The conservative public policy think tank The Heritage Foundation will act as a convenor in meetings with Facebook executives for discussing issues and concerns addressed by conservative groups.
However, after a year past the commencement of the audit, Kyl and committee hadn’t released any public report yet and have also not made any recommendations as well.
“Senator Kyl and his team have talked to over 130 of the nation’s leading conservative groups and individuals to see how our policies are affecting them and their communities. The team is now meeting with people from Facebook’s policy and product teams to gain a better understanding of Facebook’s internal and external policies as well as our products and services,” said a Facebook spokesperson about the audit today.
With increasing evidence, several conservatives have made claims against social media networks for suppressing conservative voices and viewpoints. The delay in Facebook’s audit further strengthens such claims.
The idea of Facebook censoring conservatives has become deep-rooted in people’s minds.
