Nancy Pelosi Condemns Facebook’s ‘Shameful’ Behavior

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) condemned Facebook’s “shameful” behavior during a press conference Thursday, claiming that Silicon Valley does not care about the platform’s allegedly harmful effects on society.

One reporter asked the speaker whether Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg and other Silicon Valley executives have too much power in society.

“The Facebook business model is strictly to make money. They don’t care about the impact on children. They don’t care about truth. They don’t care about where this is all coming from, and they have said even if they know it’s not true they will print it,” Pelosi charged.

“I think they have been very abusive of the great opportunity that technology has given them,” the California Democrat said.

Pelosi contended that Facebook, Google, and other tech companies have lobbied the Trump administration to receive tax cuts while avoiding antitrust action.

“And they schmooze this administration in that regard because so far that’s what they have received,” she claimed.

Pelosi criticizes Facebook, which has an office in her district: "All they want are their tax cuts and no antitrust action against them and they schmooze this administration in that regard…They intend to be accomplices for misleading the American people" https://t.co/7DMcsOnniz pic.twitter.com/P6dI9a1LEl

— CBS News (@CBSNews) January 16, 2020

Facebook has faced increasing pressure from leftist politicians and media outlets over the platform’s refusal to fact-check political ads. Pelosi has opposed Facebook’s decision to host political ads on the platform without fact-checking the ad.

The New York Times reported this week that Facebook has no plans to fact-check political ads on its platform despite the considerable pressure it faces.

Rob Leathern, Facebook’s director of product management overseeing integrity division, said, “In the absence of regulation, Facebook and other companies are left to design their own policies. We have based ours on the principle that people should be able to hear from those who wish to lead them, warts and all, and that what they say should be scrutinized and debated in public.”

In contrast to Facebook, Twitter announced last October that it will ban all political advertising from its network. Google also decided to limit political ads on its networks, although in a narrower scope.

“I think what they have said, very blatantly, very clearly, is that they intend to be accomplices for misleading the American people with money from God knows where,” she said.

Pelosi added, “They have been very irresponsible. … I think their behavior is shameful.”