It didn’t take long after Facebook claimed on Tuesday to have removed nearly three dozen accounts “involved in coordinated inauthentic behavior” for talk-radio icon Rush Limbaugh to detect the scent of spin.
Facebook, which last week lost nearly 20 percent of its value – more than $120 billion – because it was not meeting financial projections, said it didn’t know who was behind “the latest fake products.”
But the social-media giant said it had “evidence of some connections between these accounts and Internet Research Agency accounts we disabled last year,” referring to the Russian entity accused of trying to influence the 2016 U.S. presidential election.
“Today we removed 32 pages and accounts from Facebook and Instagram because they were involved in coordinated inauthentic behavior,” the company said. “This kind of behavior is not allowed on Facebook because we don’t want people or organizations creating networks of accounts to mislead others about who they are, or what they’re doing.”
In its effort to eliminate “fake news,” Facebook has changed its news algorithm, prompting charges that conservative voices have been squelched.
The company said the pages it erased Tuesday didn’t appear to support or oppose any specific officials or parties.
But Limbaugh told his listeners Monday the company is making the moves to reclaim support from the left, which still blames social media companies for not doing enough to prevent Donald Trump’s election.
And there’s more.
“Facebook is doing this for a second reason, and that is they’re already beginning to set the table, make excuses for Democrats losing the next election. Folks, do not doubt me on this. Whereas the Drive-By Media and the Democrat Party has done everything they can to destroy the integrity, honor, and the perceived validity of the U.S. electoral system, if they win the next election, I guarantee you there will be no problem with the American electoral system.
“It will have been said to be fixed. When the Democrats win, the accompanying news stories will be, ‘Ways were found to defeat the Russians’ attempt to elect Republicans!’ ‘Working with our partners,’ the Democrats will say, ‘We found a way to make the Russian attempts to steal our elections fruitless and worthless!’ Because no election they win will ever be said to be tainted by their media. … Only elections they lose. So with Facebook now saying, ‘Hey, guess what? We have found. … We have found the same kind of bad stuff the Russians were doing in 2016! We found it here, and we’re gonna start getting rid of it,'” he said.
“There’s no reason to mention this, unless you’re trying to buy back goodwill between your buddies on the left who are blaming you for letting the Russians steal the election.
“I think Facebook is already starting to make excuses for losing in November. Why else report this stuff? You know, the whole American electoral system, do you realize how corrupted it has been now by the Democrat Party and the media? The perceived integrity and the honesty, the validity of the American electoral process has been destroyed by these people and this mindless pursuit of the Russians tampering with the outcome of the election, which there has been no evidence for and there will not be any evidence for because it is not possible to do.”
He added:Â “I maintain to you that the Democrats will never, ever lead anybody to think that an election they win is illegitimate. So with Facebook now warning everybody that they have already spotted similar conniving attempts to pollute our elections in November that they saw in the 2016 election, it tells me that there’s one and maybe two things going on.
“If they are setting tables and the expectation for the Russians again tampering with this election, they’ve gotta be doing this thinking they’re gonna lose. Because I’m here to tell you they would never take action at any time that would cast doubt on their victory. They simply wouldn’t do it. Unless they’ve got some grand scheme to say, ‘The Russians did it! The Russians are out there trying to screw us, but we found a way to beat ’em back. We Democrats outsmarted ’em. You can trust us to keep the Russians out of our elections.’ Maybe they can do that. I wouldn’t put it past ’em.”
