FCC Commissioner Slams Facebook Supreme Court: ‘New Speech Police’

Brendan Carr, one of the four commissioners of the FCC, slammed Facebook’s Oversight Board — colloquially known as the “Facebook Supreme Court” — in a tweet yesterday evening.

The Oversight Board announced its first 20 members in a post yesterday, and was instantly met with a flurry of criticism for its partisan left-wing appointments.

Commissioner Carr drew attention to the inclusion of one member, Pamela Karlan, who testified to impeach President Trump and has been called a “full-throated, unapologetic liberal torchbearer” by the New York Times. 

“Meet your new speech police,” said Carr. “Facebook now has an Oversight Board empowered to take down posts.”

“Gotta be non-partisan people, right? Nope! 1 is Pam Karlan: testified to impeach @POTUS, “baron” Trump line, Obama DOJ, & NYT calls ‘full-throated, unapologetic liberal torchbearer.'”

“Facebook’s decision undermines its claim that posts won’t be censored for partisan political reasons. Karlan testified that ‘President Trump must be held to account.’ She wrote *in 2016* that she felt ‘a responsibility to challenge [Trump] in the court of public opinion.'”

2. Facebook’s decision undermines its claim that posts won’t be censored for partisan political reasons.

Karlan testified that “President Trump must be held to account.”

She wrote *in 2016* that she felt “a responsibility to challenge [Trump] in the court of public opinion.”

— Brendan Carr (@BrendanCarrFCC) May 7, 2020

Carr has served as an FCC commissioner since 2017, when he was nominated to the position by President Donald Trump. He previously served as an aide to Ajit Pai, the current FCC chairman.

As Breitbart News reported yesterday, the 20 announced members of Facebook’s “oversight board,” which will have the power to overturn bans and censorship on the platform, include a wide range of progressive and left-wing figures, including a Soros-funded activist, the former editor-in-chief of The Guardian, the former left-wing prime minister of Denmark, and an academic who once praised a Teen Vogue article comparing Trump to Hitler.

There does not appear to be a single pro-Trump or conservative figure on the oversight board. The inclusion of The Guardian’s former editor-in-chief drew particular criticism from conservatives in Britain, where the newspaper is widely viewed as representing the pinnacle of far-left progressive opinion.

Damian Green MP, who serves on the House of Commons’ committee on culture, media, and sport, said Facebook’s oversight board “fails miserably to provide confidence in its political balance.”

Are you an insider at Google, Reddit, Facebook, Twitter, or any other tech company who wants to confidentially reveal wrongdoing or political bias at your company? Reach out to Allum Bokhari at his secure email address allumbokhari@protonmail.com. 

Allum Bokhari is the senior technology correspondent at Breitbart News.