On Tuesday, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg testified before a Senate committee on the company’s use of private personal data and also came under scrutiny for the social media giant’s ongoing censorship of conservative views. Sen. Ben Sasse, R-Neb., grilled Zuckerberg, challenging him to define “hate speech” and in the process, Twitchy said, “proceeded to mop the floor with him.”
https://twitter.com/jason_howerton/status/983813266752368641
According to the National Review:
Senator Ben Sasse (R., Neb.) said he worried about policies that are “less than First Amendment full-spirit embracing in my view.”
“I worry about a world where when you go from violent groups to hate speech in a hurry,” Sasse told Zuckerberg. “Facebook may decide it needs to police a whole bunch of speech that I think America may be better off not having policed by one company that has a really big and powerful platform.”
“Can you define hate speech?” he asked.
Zuckerberg said it would be hard to pin down a specific definition, and mentioned speech “calling for violence” as something Facebook does not tolerate.
“I’m worried about the psychological categories around speech,” Sasse interjected. “We see this happening on college campuses all across the country. It’s dangerous.”
Of course, it’s hard to define “hate speech,” since it’s generally used by leftists to silence any conservative speech.
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“There are some really passionately held views about the abortion issue on this panel today,” Sasse added. “Can you imagine a world where you might decide that pro-lifers are prohibited from speaking about their abortion view on your platform?”
“I certainly would not want that to be the case,” Zuckerberg said in response.
“But might really be unsettling to people who’ve have had an abortion to have an open debate about that wouldn’t it?” Sasse asked, prompting the Facebook CEO to “generally” agree with the Nebraska Republican’s point.
Video: Amazing exchange where @BenSasse asks Mark Zuckerberg if "can you define hate speech" and, despite saying AI will be built to root out hate speech, Zuckerberg said "this is a really hard question" #ZuckerbergTestimony #TTT pic.twitter.com/Y1J8j86RCF
— Curtis Houck (@CurtisHouck) April 10, 2018
.@BenSasse challenges Zuckerberg to define hate speech.
"Can you imagine a world where you might decide that pro-lifers are prohibited from speaking" on Facebook?
"It might be unsettling to people who've had an abortion to have an open debate on that, wouldn't it?" pic.twitter.com/mGHfnq4BWH
— IJR (@TheIJR) April 10, 2018
Sasse told Zuckerberg: “I wouldn’t want you to leave here today and think there’s sort of a unified view in the Congress that you should be moving toward policing more and more and more speech.”
.@BenSasse: “I wouldn’t want you to leave here today and think there’s sort of a unified view in the Congress that you should be moving toward policing more and more and more speech.” pic.twitter.com/lp4UQ6kmED
— Fox News (@FoxNews) April 10, 2018
Zuckerberg is set to appear before the House Committee on Energy and Commerce on Wednesday, the same day an online protest of the social media giant will take place.
Related:
- GOP Sen. Tim Scott shreds Facebook for censorship: Diamond and Silk are hardly ‘unsafe to the community’
- Video of the Day: Watch Ted Cruz corner Mark Zuckerberg on censorship of conservatives, Diamond and Silk
- Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg in Meltdown Mode Over $70 BILLION in Lost Market Share
- New Facebook alternative gives conservatives a ‘site with a purpose’ without the censorship
- Facebook deems ‘Hunt & Kill All White Women’ not hate speech
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