Dr. Joyce Pushes for Answers on Censorship, Conservative Bias from Big Tech

Washington, DC ? At today's Energy and Commerce Committee hearing with big tech leaders entitled "Disinformation Nation: Social Media's Role in Promoting Extremism and Misinformation," Congressman John Joyce, M.D. (PA-13) pushed Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg and Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey for answers on their sites' content moderation policies and the impact of political bias.

Specifically, Dr. Joyce outlined the example of Facebook banning two Adams County citizens from the platform, in addition to the Adams County Republican Committee Facebook page that they moderated, without any advance warning, explanation, or opportunity to appeal this decision. Since the accounts were banned in December 2020, these individuals have not received any response from Facebook as to why they were deplatformed. As Dr. Joyce recounted at the hearing, he shares widespread concerns that Facebook's policy enforcement is rooted in political bias.

"We have heard consistently during this hearing about alarming accounts of content policing, censorship and even permanent deplatforming of individuals," said Dr. Joyce. "I also have been concerned about the lack of transparency and consistency in Facebook's application of its own standards?Shutting down the Adams County Republican Committee Facebook page strikes me as an infringement on speech that is normally protected in the public domain."

At the hearing, Dr. Joyce had Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg commit to getting answers to his Adams County constituents. Additionally, he asked both Zuckerberg and Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey to examine the impact of political bias in content moderation.

You can watch Dr. Joyce's full line of questioning here.

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