According to a lengthy report published by the group online, a former high-level Facebook employee-turned-whistleblower and provided damning evidence in the form of documents that show how the social media behemoth, through its technology and algorithms, purposely limits exposure of written and video content posted by conservative figures and news organizations.
Project Veritas began its report this way:
Project Veritas has obtained and published documents and presentation materials from a former Facebook insider. This information describes how Facebook engineers plan and go about policing political speech. Screenshots from a Facebook workstation show the specific technical actions taken against political figures, as well as “[e]xisting strategies” taken to combat political speech.
Project Veritas founder James O’Keefe said that to expose dishonesty and censorship in big tech companies, he will be relying upon more insiders, informants and leakers in the future:
“Our future depends on those who are willing to give up everything for what they believe.”
The information provided by the former insider “describes how Facebook engineers plan and go about policing political speech,” Project Veritas said in a press release. “Screenshots from a Facebook workstation show the specific technical sections taken against political figures, as well as ‘[e]xisting strategies’ taken to combat political speech.”
Some of the strategies include suspending or deleting “bad accounts,” deleting “bad content,” and demoting “bad content.” The so-called “special features” of censorship are triggered at various times including “leading up to important elections,” according to documents the undercover journalism group obtained. (Related: Here’s how DEMS plan to shut out all conservative voices from social media like the Nazis burned books.)
Project Veritas noted further:
According to the insider, the documents revealed a routine suppression of the distribution of conservative Facebook pages. The technical action she repeatedly saw, and for which Project Veritas was provided documentation, was labeled ActionDeboostLiveDistribution. Said the insider, “I would see [this term] appear on several different conservative pages. I first noticed it with an account that I can’t remember, but I remember once I started looking at it, I also saw it on Mike Cernovich’s page, saw it on Steven Crowder’s page, as well as the Daily Caller’s page.”
Class-action lawsuits are the only way to stop the abuse
The whistleblower provided documents providing details about algorithms and other technologies that Facebook employs to downgrade conservative content and censor conservative figures. All in all, the evidence is a treasure trove of proof that could very easily be used in a class-action lawsuit against the social media behemoth.
One group is committed to battling exactly this kind of blatantly political and legally questionable censorship: Online Civil Rights.
In a “Statement of Online Universal Civil Rights,” the group notes that freedom of speech is vital to the maintenance of a free society and that everyone has “the right to exist online if they so choose.”
In addition, the group says, people should be free to participate in online speech — again, if they choose to do so, but of course, they can’t participate if the content they wish to engage is being censored and thus denying people access to it.
Also, OCR notes, there should be freedom of online commerce as well.
“The targeting of independent media journalists, bloggers, publishers or websites for advertising blacklisting or other forms of economic sabotage is torturous interference in their right to engage in commerce,” says the group.
The censorship by Facebook and, according to independent studies other social media giants too, not only violates users’ trust but it also could be a violation of antitrust laws, especially if conservative media sites have purchased advertising or marketed their page to Facebook audiences to boost their “likes.”
In fact, one antitrust suit was filed last fall against Google, Twitter, Facebook, and Apple over censorship of conservatives. After Project Veritas’ findings, it’s time for a new one to be filed.
Read more about how social media censorship is a major violation of the First Amendment at FirstAmendment.news.
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