A Meta spokesman admitted to erroneously censoring a Facebook video of a federal official labeling the New York criminal case against former President Donald Trump as a "perversion of justice."
Meta Communications Director Andy Stone, in exclusive comments to MRC Free Speech America on Friday, responded to the scandal, stating, “This happened in error and has since been corrected.”
The controversy began when reports surfaced that Meta-owned Facebook had censored video of a Department of Justice (DOJ) public affairs chief calling a court case against Trump “nonsense.”
MRC Free Speech America quickly reached out to the tech giant, prompting Stone’s censorship admission, which seemed particularly hypocritical given Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s censorship confession to the House Judiciary Committee promising to pull back on election-related censorship just 11 days before, following years of interference.
As previously unveiled by MRC, Facebook has interfered in elections no fewer than 39 times since 2008, including the temporary ban on Trump in 2021. The sweeping censorship, including last week’s “error,” seems suspicious at the very least.
The censored video shows Nicholas Biase, chief spokesman for the U.S. Attorney’s Office in New York, characterizing Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s case against the former president as a “perversion of justice.” Biase further admitted, “Honestly, I think the case is nonsense,” and went on to accuse Bragg of “stacking charges and rearranging just to make it fit a case.”
Facebook users who attempted to share the video on the platform, according to Reclaim the Net, received the message, “We can’t review this website because the content doesn’t meet our Community Standards. If you think this is a mistake, please let us know.” Other users also reportedly received the notice, “We removed your content…It looks like you tried to gather sensitive information from others…This goes against our Community Standards on cybersecurity.”
MRC researchers are now able to share the video on Facebook.
The Louder with Crowder show originally published the video, and its CEO Gerald Morgan accused, per Reclaim the Net: “Facebook is back in the business of making sure you do not see information that pertains to the election and Donald Trump and this administration.”
This latest round of Meta censorship and backtracking comes just four days after the company announced a new fact-checking partnership with Litmus, a member of the George Soros-funded Poynter Institute’s International Fact-Checking Network. Zuckerberg’s self-blaming August letter admitting to past censorship and vowing reform seems to have been insincere.
Conservatives are under attack. Contact Meta here and demand that it be held to account to mirror the First Amendment and provide an equal platform for conservatives. If you have been censored, contact us using MRC Free Speech America’s contact form, and help us hold Big Tech accountable.
