Sen. Josh Hawley said Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg admitted to him that some of his employees had displayed bias against conservatives while moderating content on the platform.
“Conservatives shouldn’t be shut out,” Hawley said Friday during a discussion about Big Tech at the Conservative Political Action Conference in National Harbor, Maryland. “We’ve gotta make sure we’re getting fair treatment.”
Hawley, a Missouri Republican, claimed Zuckerberg met with him privately on Capitol Hill last year and admitted there was bias present among employees at his company that led to the censorship of videos posted online by the anti-abortion group Live Action.
Hawley first made the claim last year, which prompted Live Action President Lila Rose to demand an apology.
“If Facebook wants to make this right, they need to publicly apologize for this wrongdoing,” the head of the anti-abortion group said at the time.
Donald Trump Jr., who also appeared on the panel on Friday, said he doubted the censorship issue would improve.
“It’s not just the leader at the top,” President Trump’s eldest son said. “The inmates are running the asylum. Even if [Zuckerberg] agrees there should not be bias, other employees are going to do what they want.”
House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, another panelist, praised Zuckerberg for his honesty but raised concerns about what large technology companies are doing with user data.
“When someone does something right, stand up for him,” the California Republican said. “If they’re gonna make money off what they know about us, we should be able to make money off it, too.”
Facebook did not immediately respond to a request for comment from the Washington Examiner.
The younger Trump, who often complains about bias against conservatives on social media, claimed Big Tech companies were a bigger threat to the average citizen than him or other prominent political figures.
“If they can do it to someone like me, with a few million followers, what can they do to someone with 300?” he said. “We’re not asking for favoritism. We’ll take them on the issues and win.”
