Republicans are not convinced by an explanation offered by Facebook as to why a post criticizing President Joe Biden’s cancelation of student loan debt was taken down by the platform.
On Aug. 25, the House Judiciary GOP in a Twitter post alleged that Facebook blocked it from criticizing Biden’s waiver up to $10,000 in student loan debt.
“WOW: @facebook says our post about paying back loans violates their “community standards.” Big Tech’s at it again,” the committee said in the post, with screenshots attached.
In the original Facebook post, the Republican committee wrote, “If you take out a loan, you pay it back. Period.”
WOW: @facebook says our post about paying back loans violates their “community standards.”
— House Judiciary GOP (@JudiciaryGOP) August 25, 2022
Big Tech’s at it again. pic.twitter.com/Oo5lESfxwU
The post was flagged as violating the social media platform’s “community standards” and was blocked from public view, according to one screenshot. It has since been restored after House Republicans voiced protest.
Facebook told the committee that it was a ‘technical error,’ an aide for the office of Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio), the top Republican on the House Judiciary Committee, told The Epoch Times.
But the lawmaker was not convinced by the explanation.
“It’s always a ‘glitch’ when it comes to Republicans and Big Tech,” Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio), top Republican on the House Judiciary Committee, told The Epoch Times. “No one’s buying it.”
Conservatives have long accused big tech corporations of using their powers to suppress viewpoints and news that these companies do not agree with, including COVID-19 information and stories about Hunter Biden’s laptop.
Asked by The Epoch Times, Facebook pointed to a statement from Andy Stone, Meta’s communication director, saying that “nothing” in the GOP committee post violated company policies.
“There is nothing about the content of this post that violates our policies, people should not have been prevented from sharing it and we’re working to fix it now,” the company’s spokesperson said.
The post had been recovered by Aug. 26.
By Dorothy Li and Eva Fu
