As Twitter Steps Up, Facebook Refuses To Enforce Their Own Policies

For Immediate Release
May 29, 2020
Contact: press@accountabletech.org

Accountable Tech Executive Director Nicole Gill released the following statement Friday:

“It’s encouraging to see Twitter continue to uphold its standards and provide transparency about the actions they are taking, and their warning labels provide important context without amounting to censorship.

This is in stark contrast to Facebook, which seems to selectively enforce policies based on self-interest, irrespective of stated values or societal harm. Mark Zuckerberg, in his Fox News interview this week, explicitly cited threats of violence as an example of content that would not be tolerated on the platform, even coming from the president:

‘We do have clear policies & if anyone violates them – whether you’re a high-ranking government official like the president or anyone on our platform – we do have to take action if people are doing things that are going to promote violence’ – Mark Zuckerberg, 5/27/20

This isn’t just about President Trump, or some radical embrace of free speech – Facebook happily bends in the other direction when it’s in their business interest. Last month, Reuters revealed Facebook had acceded to Vietnam’s demands that they censor criticism of the government in order to operate in the country.

Platforms labeling posts that contain misinformation or incite violence is not ‘biased’ – what’s biased is enforcing your own rules only when it’s politically and financially convenient.”

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