Last week, Facebook walked back its controversial “fact-check” of pro-life advocacy group Live Action after reports emerged that two of the supposedly independent fact-checkers that were labeling Live Action’s posts “false” were pro-abortion activists. Now Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg has admitted that there “clearly was bias” in this situation and that bias is “an issue we’ve struggled with for a long time.”
Zuckerberg made the comments in a closed-door meeting with Senator Josh Hawley where he also discussed bias, privacy, and competition.
Facebook has confirmed Zuckerberg’s admission of clear bias to CNN reporter Brian Fung.
Live Action’s founder and president Lila Rose has responded to the admission by saying that the group has yet to receive an apology from Facebook for the “bogus” fact-check.
She went on to call for Facebook to make this right by:
- Publicly apologizing for this wrongdoing
- Removing “the inaccurate Fact Check”
- Re-sending a notification to all of Live Action’s followers who were presented with the fact-check labeling its posts as “false”
- Fixing their process so it never happens again to Live Action or anyone else
After meeting with Zuckerberg, Hawley suggested that he had doubts about the CEO’s sincerity and told reporters outside his Senate office:
“This is the same sort of song and dance we hear from Facebook every time it gets caught, whether it’s taking people’s data without telling them, it’s always, ‘Oh, we made a mistake; we’ll try to do better in the future.’“
Rose also echoed Hawley’s concerns and said: “They claim to be neutral but don’t act that way. They enjoy privileges as a platform, but act like a far-Left, politically motivated publisher. This affects ALL news & content shared on FB.”
This admission of clear bias from Zuckerberg comes days after another huge admission by Facebook – that the company’s labeling of political commentator and congressional candidate Laura Loomer as a “dangerous individual” person was an “opinion” that Facebook believes should be protected under the First Amendment.
