Facebook is once again at the center of a censorship storm after being accused of blocking the circulation of a video exposing harsh criticisms by a official regarding the prosecution of former President Donald Trump.
The video, also published on Rumble features undercover footage showing Nicholas Biase, the chief spokesman for the Manhattan US Attorney’s Office, which brought cases against President Trump, slamming Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s Trump case as a “perversion of justice.”
“Honestly, I think the case is nonsense,” Biase says in the video.
Users who went to share the video on Facebook were hit with the following message: “We can’t review this website because the content doesn’t meet our Community Standards. If you think this is a mistake, please let us know.”
Other users got the message: “We removed your content…It looks like you tried to gather sensitive information from others…This goes against our Community Standards on cybersecurity.”
Gerald Morgan, CEO of Louder with Crowder, addressed the censorship directly, stating, “We broke a massive story today on the Department of Justice… and a lot of you haven’t [seen it],” Morgan stated. Morgan continued, “Facebook is back in the business of making sure you do not see information that pertains to the election and Donald Trump and this administration.”
According to Morgan, Facebook’s actions mirror its role in censoring the Hunter Biden laptop story, suggesting a pattern of withholding crucial information.
He criticized the platform for once again “keeping the truth” from reaching the public, despite recent apologies from Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg over past censorship practices. “They are keeping you from understanding the truth about this election and the stakes and the impact that this is going to have on our country. They’re doing it again just days… after we had Mark Zuckerberg come out and say that he regretted doing those things, and yet he’s back up to his old tricks again,” Morgan stated.”
In the video, Biase was caught on hidden camera describing Bragg’s case against Trump as politically motivated. Recorded by an undercover operative, Biase claimed that Bragg brought the case to advance his own career, stating, “Before he decided to prosecute Trump, did you know who he was? You do now,” Biase suggested the charges were inflated and manipulated to make them fit the legal narrative. Trump, who faces 34 felony charges related to hush-money payments, is set to be sentenced on September 18.
Crowder’s team claims that Facebook’s blocking of the video is an attempt to control the narrative around Trump’s legal troubles and the upcoming election. Of Facebook: “You don’t want people to see that Donald Trump is being targeted and that he is not a felon and that nobody would have brought these charges at the federal level because they passed on it.” Morgan said, referencing the DOJ’s earlier decision not to pursue the case that Bragg took on.
“Thank God I can get you to see it on Rumble,” Morgan said, praising platform owners like Elon Musk and Chris Pavlovski for allowing free speech and the free flow of information. “If it came down to the Mark Zuckerbergs and Metas of the world, you’d never see it.”
Biase, who apologized for the remarks to the New York Post, said they were made in a private setting and not reflective of his true views, claiming he was trying to “impress” someone he had just met. However, his statements, combined with Facebook’s attempt to stifle the video, have fueled further accusations of political bias and censorship at a time when open access to information is crucial.
In the lead-up to the 2020 presidential election, Facebook faced widespread criticism for suppressing the circulation of a story about Hunter Biden’s laptop, which was initially reported by the New York Post. The story contained explosive allegations about Hunter Biden’s foreign business dealings and suggested potential corruption involving his father, Joe Biden, who was running for president at the time. Citing concerns over “misinformation,” Facebook reduced the article’s visibility and limited its reach on the platform, prompting outrage from those who saw it as a clear instance of election interference.
Facebook’s CEO, Mark Zuckerberg, later admitted that the platform’s decision to censor the story was a mistake. In a 2022 interview with Joe Rogan, Zuckerberg revealed that Facebook had acted after receiving a vague warning from the FBI about potential foreign interference.
In a letter to the House Judiciary Committee on Weaponization, Mark Zuckerberg recently expressed regret over Meta’s decision to cave to pressure from the Biden administration to censor content, calling the interference “wrong” in a letter to the House Judiciary Committee. The Meta CEO said he plans to resist such influence more aggressively in the future.
“It’s since been made clear that the reporting was not Russian disinformation, and in retrospect, we shouldn’t have demoted the story,” he wrote.
“So much for Zuckerberg apologizing,” Rumble CEO Chris Pavlovski stated. “Facebook is now blocking @scrowder’s Rumble show which contains important breaking news — citing community standards.”
