Liberals are up in arms over a doctored video of Speaker Nancy Pelosi that showed up on Facebook. The video was slowed down to make her appear confused and as if her age is finally catching up to her. Democrats brought the video to Facebook's attention, letting them know the video had been doctored. Facebook came back and said it didn't violate their terms of service, therefore, the video can stay.
When conservatives were being censored, liberals looked the other way. When conservatives were being suspended, liberals said censorship wasn't taking place. In fact, Dems have been in favor of social media websites' censorship because the owners are liberals. Now that they're finally being negatively impacted, it's a massive crisis on their front.
Facebook’s Vice President for Product Policy and Counterterrorism, Monika Bickert, told CNN's Anderson Cooper why the video would stay.
“You have no problem removing 3.39 billion fake Facebook accounts from October through March. So why is it okay for you to remove fake Facebook accounts, but it’s not okay to remove a clearly fake video?” the host asked.
“It’s a fundamental rule when you come to Facebook, you have to use your real identity. That’s always been our rule,” Bickert explained. “And we do see that accounts that are fake are engaged in safety violations more than authentic accounts. And by the way, and this is probably not shocking, fake accounts are also more likely to distribute misinformation or fake news. And so part of our effort to combat misinformation, it’s not just about working with third-party fact checkers. When we remove fake accounts, we are also reducing the chance that these accounts will be sharing misinformation. And I would point out that this is working.”
Cooper pressed the executive, saying Facebook is in the news business.
“I understand it’s a big business to get into of trying to figure out what’s true or not, but you’re making money by being in the news business. If you can’t do it well, shouldn’t you just get out of the news business?” he asked. “I’m just saying, if you are — you are in this particular case, spreading and allowing the spread of a clearly false doctored video. Again, you’re in the news business. There’s a responsibility that comes with that. And this is, this isn’t even a question.”
Bickert disagreed.
“We aren’t in the news business,” she said. “We’re in the social media business.”
But because users can share news stories, they've essentially become a publisher themselves.
In a CNN Exclusive, Monika Bickert, Facebook VP for Product Policy and Counterterrorism, explains why the social media site hasn't removed a manipulated video of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. https://t.co/tr9QRDcAZE pic.twitter.com/fOeMQaepSu
— Anderson Cooper 360° (@AC360) May 25, 2019
Naturally, lefties took to Twitter to complain about Facebook's decision:
Twitter won’t take down a doctored video of Speaker Pelosi that was posted to suggest she has failing health but they are sending push notifications regarding Jon Voight’s support for Trump. You didn’t need Jack sitting in the oval to know who this company is backing in 2020.
— Adam Parkhomenko (@AdamParkhomenko) May 25, 2019
Facebook’s decision not to remove the doctored video of Pelosi is nothing less than an invitation for purveyors of disinformation to flood the site with manipulated footage and deep fakes targeting politicians (& anyone else w/ a public profile).
— Caroline Orr (@RVAwonk) May 25, 2019
It’s about to get a lot worse.
The part where the @facebook exec says that they aren’t “in the news business” was either delusion or gaslighting at its finest. There also seemed to be no recognition that her company has put a lot of journalists and publications out of the news business. https://t.co/C3OL2DbeD7
— Jamil Smith (@JamilSmith) May 25, 2019
Facebook acknowledges that distorted Pelosi video was faked, but declines to delete it. "We don’t have a policy that stipulates that the information you post on Facebook must be true" #DeleteFacebook #TrumpCoverUp
— David Leavitt (@David_Leavitt) May 25, 2019
If youtube can take down fake videos, Facebook can take down fake videos.
— Neera Tanden (@neeratanden) May 25, 2019
Facebook is very responsive to my office when I want to talk about federal legislation and suddenly get marbles in their mouths when we ask them about dealing with a fake video. It’s not that they cannot solve this; it’s that they refuse to do what is necessary.
— Brian Schatz (@brianschatz) May 24, 2019
But Rep. John Lewis had a bit of advice for Nancy, and it's rather heartwarming:
.@SpeakerPelosi
— John Lewis (@repjohnlewis) May 25, 2019
Madam Speaker,
Keep the faith and keep your eyes on the prize.
Best wishes,
John Lewis
Democrats are finally getting a taste of their own medicine. Not such an easy pill to swallow, is it?
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