Facebook moved to censor information “immediately” after the 2020 presidential election, according to a disturbing report.
The report from Breitbart’s Allum Bokhari, who has covered Big Tech censorship extensively, finds that Facebook worked to bury “hyperpartisan” information from outlets like Breitbart while boosting CNN’s “authoritative” articles.
Playing politics
Essentially, Facebook toyed with an algorithm that influences what Facebook users see in their news feed.
The New York Times reported that Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg agreed to make the “emergency” changes days after the election, as “misinformation” about voter fraud was spreading and President Donald Trump was claiming victory.
Facebook adjusted a secretive, internal ranking of publishers’ “quality,” although as one might imagine, what sounds like a non-partisan classification appears to have had a political angle.
The policy had been planned out beforehand in case of a contested election, and the practical result was a “spike in visibility for big, mainstream publishers like CNN, The New York Times and NPR,” while “posts from highly engaged hyperpartisan pages, such as Breitbart and Occupy Democrats, became less visible,” the Times said. (CNN isn’t hyperpartisan?)
The result was a “calmer, less divisive Facebook” that some employees said should be permanent, but Facebook said the change was only temporary, according to The Times.
Big Tech manipulated election
Naturally, what constitutes “misinformation” is highly contentious these days, especially after years of speculation about “Russian collusion” from so-called “journalists.” Why exactly is CNN authoritative, while Breitbart is not?
According to Bokhari, the “suppression was not apparently based on post-election content published. The move was tantamount to what in a legal First Amendment context would be considered an illegal prior restraint of speech.”
This is just one example of Big Tech’s interference in the election, which many, such as Fox News host Tucker Carlson, a prominent critic of Big Tech, argue began in earnest even before Nov. 3, as platforms like Facebook and Twitter shut down damaging stories about Democratic nominee Joe Biden and his son’s business dealings.
Bokhari, author of Deleted: Big Tech’s Battle to Erase the Trump Movement and Steal the Election, recently told Carlson that Google censored Breitbart stories about Biden before the election, a trend he said would get far worse under a Biden presidency.
A recent poll found that 17 percent of Biden voters in swing states would not have voted for Biden if they had known about these reports.
The post Facebook immediately moved to censor information after 2020 election first appeared on Conservative Institute.
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