Facebook ‘Un-Friends’ Conservatives

If you’re a conservative and you have a Facebook account, you will find it interesting to know just what the social media goliath thinks of your ideals — not much, apparently.

Even though you probably click on ads that Facebook makes billions of dollars from — they cleared $5 billion in revenue last quarter alone — expect to be confronted with continuing liberal bias from the popular platform.

“Facebook’s annual meeting showed a complete lack of respect for investors. Facebook likes their money, but everything else about them they don’t seem to care for,” one attendee noted.

At Facebook’s annual shareholder meeting on June 20 in Redwood City, California, attorney Justin Danhof of the National Center for Public Policy Research questioned CEO Mark Zuckerberg about the company’s mistreatment of conservative groups. That came after Gizmodo reported in May that several former employees told them Facebook routinely suppressed news stories of interest to conservatives.

“Today’s meeting showed a complete lack of respect for investors — Facebook likes their money, but everything else about them they don’t seem to care for,” Danhof told LifeZette. “It seemed that it’s amateur hour over there. Theyr’e not a mature company, and they don’t know what they’re doing. I wouldn’t be surprised if they go completely virtual with these meetings in the future, and don’t even allow shareholders to attend.”

Danhof asked Zuckerberg the following: What affirmative steps are in place to increase transparency regarding Facebook’s news section and its removal of pages and posts, and what do you have to say to the conservative individuals and groups who have been harmed — and continue to be harmed — by the company’s bias?

Zuckerberg was unwilling to answer free-market investor Danhof, but instead deferred to another executive.

[lz_ndn video=31037253]

Zuckerberg did take to his own Facebook account on May 12 to respond to a report that employees at Facebook have censored conservative content in its trending topics section.

“We take this report very seriously and are conducting a full investigation to ensure our teams upheld the integrity of this product,” he wrote, noting Facebook itself had not found any proof of truth in the allegations. He also wrote he would be “inviting leading conservatives and people from across the political spectrum” to discuss the concern.

“Let’s hand-pick conservatives to come to this meeting, and then we’ll all say after the fact its hunky-dory,” laughed Danhof of the conservative coffee klatch. “If you’re a somewhat passive conservative and you see that Glenn Beck and some others attended and they report back, ‘Oh, we talked, and everything’s all right now,’ the meeting I just attended should disabuse you of that notion. It should, in fact, increase your concern,” he said.

Related: Facebook CEO Vows to Level Playing Field

“Eighty percent of their employees skew left, their big donors are Democrats — this isn’t rocket science,” Danhof continued. “Employees at Facebook know the executives above them believe in the same liberal agenda as they do, so they have that safety net in terms of what they choose to promote.”

Danhof found it baffling that Facebook has claimed its own internal investigation has cleared themselves of the charges of bias — but admitted that they are making changes to their trending news platform. “The obvious is this: If there is nothing wrong, why is Facebook making the change?”

Facebook also approved the formation of a new class of voting shares in the annual meeting, multiple sources report, which will keep CEO Mark Zuckerberg in control as long as he’s with the company.

While expressing concern over Facebook’s limiting the free speech of conservatives, Danhof also spoke up on behalf of Facebook against a shareholder proposal that would limit the company’s own right to free speech.

“Employees at Facebook know that the executives above them believe in the same liberal agenda as they do, so they have that safety net in terms of what they choose to promote.”

The proposal, submitted by the Philadelphia Public Employees Retirement System, attacked Facebook’s affiliation with the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.

Despite having full remarks to deliver in opposition to the proposal, Danhof was only able to briefly mention it, he said: Facebook abandoned its own rules for the meeting, which said remarks would be allowed.

Zuckerberg clearly moves in the Silicon Valley circle, which is progressive and elitist, and in which conservative thought is regularly dismissed, said Danhof. “While it’s totally fine for him to engage in extreme left-wing politics and public policy himself, as the CEO of Facebook, whose role in the media is growing, he should be aware his personal actions are often applied to Facebook’s brand.”

In 2015, The New York Times reported the social network was talking to news and content publishers — including The Times itself — about hosting content on Facebook’s site.

“If Zuckerberg’s goal is to make Facebook a media platform on par with the ultra-liberal MSNBC or The New York Times, then he should just be honest with his investors and consumers and say so,” noted Danhof. “But if the company is going to claim it presents the news objectively, that just doesn’t align with the facts.”

Facebook had 1.65 billion users as of the first quarter of 2016.