Top Tech Writer Issues Ultimatum to Facebook: Censor Trump or ‘We’re Leaving’

Recode co-founder and New York Times contributor Kara Swisher wrote an opinion piece for The Times that was no less than a tantrum aimed at Facebook’s refusal to be as censorious as other Big Tech companies in the lead up to this November’s election.

Swisher’s ultimatum to Facebook, “Clean Up Your Act, Facebook, or We’re Leaving,” is an example of the progressive left’s attempts at bullying platforms into censoring content that they disapprove of. The June 30 opinion piece gleefully noted that the Stop the Hate Facebook ad boycott campaign “organized by the N.A.A.C.P., the ADL, Color of Change and others” are “seeking to force [Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg] to change” by “focusing on your wallet, knocking billions off your net worth in recent days.”

Even after Zuckerberg caved to such groups and took a harsher stance on what people are not allowed to say in advertisements, Swisher said that it was nonetheless unsatisfactory. Indeed, despite Zuckerberg bowing to the left, Swisher stated, “You get zero claps for doing a tiny right thing after doing the wrong thing for far too long.”

Swisher also made note that “Last week, you announced that you are finally labeling the most egregious dreck that is broadcast on Facebook by President Trump, after years of his escalating behavior,” but even this is “too little, too late” for her.

“This column — and the deactivation of my account — is my way of cleaning up my world” one of the internet’s foremost tech journalists spat. “But to say I am confident that you, Mark Zuckerberg, will do your part to clean up the rest of the world would be something of an overstatement.”

Swisher expressed bitter gratitude that other companies have openly embraced censorship as the election looms closer. She noted that “other big platforms have started to make long overdue changes in content policy, including banning an out-of-control Trump community (Reddit) and temporarily suspending Mr. Trump’s account due to ‘hateful content’ (Twitch).”

She compared Zuckerberg to her teenage son, hoping that someday he would be as willing to censor opinions she finds offensive to the same capacity her son learns to do chores without being asked.

David Adams

Article URL : https://www.newsbusters.org/blogs/techwatch/alexander-hall/2020/07/01/top-tech-writer-issues-ultimatum-facebook-censor-trump-or