Democrat Reps. Eric Swalwell and Adam Schiff have slammed Meta for daring to reinstate 45th President Donald Trump.
Meta, the parent company for Facebook and Instagram, announced on Wednesday that former President Trump, who was unceremoniously booted off their platforms following the January 6 protests on Capitol Hill, would be reinstated in “the coming weeks.”
In a blog post, Nick Clegg, the president of global affairs at Meta, said that “the public should be able to hear what their politicians are saying – the good, the bad and the ugly – so that they can make informed choices at the ballot box.”
Clegg acknowledged that there was “significant debate” about how Meta and others should operate. “Many people believe that companies like Meta should remove much more content than we currently do. Others argue that our current policies already make us overbearing censors.”
Two people who believe that Meta should step up their censorship are California Democrats Eric Swalwell and Adam Schiff. Speaking to Joy Reid on MSNBC, Swalwell argued that Trump’s words “have power, and they inspire.” When his “words” aren’t condemned by people like Kevin McCarthy, “they’re a green light and open lane for more violence to occur,” he added.
Schiff said that the decision to reinstate Trump was “inexplicable,” and represented a “total caving in and copping out” from Meta.”The only motive I can see is a profit motive here,” Schiff continued:
“If you look at what Donald Trump has been posting on his own social media platform, all of that violates Facebook’s policies. He’s continued to give aid and comfort to those who committed acts of insurrection. He’s continuing to spread the big lie. And the idea that somehow he would not do that on Facebook when he’s doing it on his own platform, to me, is a tragic decision by a company that is putting its profit above the public interest.”
In a follow-up tweet, Schiff claimed that Trump “incited an insurrection [and] tried to stop the peaceful transfer of power. He’s shown no remorse. No contrition. Giving him back access to a social media platform to spread his lies and demagoguery is dangerous. Facebook caved, giving him a platform to do more harm.”
Former Democrat presidential candidate Bernie Sanders was less excoriating in his remarks on the news. “You have a guy who’s a pathological liar,” Sanders told CNN’s Anderson Cooper. “But he happens to be the former president of the United States and he has a right to express his views.”
Trump himself posted a statement to his own Truth Social platform on Wednesday. “FACEBOOK, which has lost Billions of Dollars in value since ‘deplatforming’ your favorite President, me, has just announced that they are reinstating my account,” he said. “Such a thing should never again happen to a sitting President, or anybody else is not deserving of retribution!”
This news and commentary by Jack Hadfield originally appeared on Valiant News.
