
(Image courtesy Pixabay)
Four U.S. senators blasted Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg on Wednesday for having two pro-abortion activists "fact-check" pro-life videos.
"If this isn't bias, what is?" wrote Sens. Josh Hawley of Missouri, Kevin Cramer of North Dakota, Ted Cruz of Texas and Mike Braun of Indiana in a letter.
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The criticisms erupted over Facebook's attack on the group Live Action and its president, Lila Rose. Live Action has conducted undercover video operations revealing misbehavior in America's abortion corporations.
On Aug. 30, Facebook told Live Action that two of its videos affirming the widely held view that "abortion is never medically necessary" were now marked by Facebook's "Fact-check" as "false."
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The senators said the "so-called 'fact-check' came as part of a Facebook initiative to combat false news involving partnerships with groups like The Associated Press, Factcheck.org, PolitiFact, and others."
"You claim that your fact-checkers are 'certified' through the 'non-partisan' International Fact-Checking Network. Listed first among the IFCN's 'Code of Principles' is 'A commitment to Nonpartisanship and Fairness' that requires 'signatories do not advocate or take policy positions on the issues they fact-check.'"
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However, Facebook's "fact check" of the videos "was performed by two pro-abortion activists with significant ties to abortion-rights advocacy organizations, both of whom are paid to perform abortions," the senators said.
"Daniel Grossman sit on the board of NARAL Pro-Choice American Foundation and has a history of testifying in favor of Planned Parenthood. Robyn Schickler is a Fellow with the pro-abortion advocacy group Physicians for Reproductive Health," they said.
The senators called out Schickler for "gratuitously" stating in her blast at Live Action, "We should remember that while these medical reasons for abortion are very serious, all reasons for deciding to seek abortion care are valid; no one reason is better than another."
Zuckerberg was told, "No reasonable person would describe Grossman or Schickler as neutral or objective when it comes to the issue of abortion, yet Facebook relied on their rating to suppress and censor a pro-life organization with more than 3 million followers."
The senators said Facebook should "immediately issue a correction, remove any restrictions placed on the pages of Live Action and Lila Rose, and submit to an external audit."
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The American Association of Pro-Life OB-GYNS, which has more than 2,500 members, condemned Facebook's censorship of Live Action.
Rose thanked the senators "for their leadership in condemning Facebook’s decision to make two abortionists the arbiters of the national debate on abortion."
"Thousands of medical professionals hold the position that abortion – the intentional and direct killing of a child in the womb – is never medically necessary and that the medical community should see both mother and child as patients," she said. "Facebook’s attack on Live Action and me is an attack on the entire pro-life community."
Rose said the platform "should be a place for the free exchange of ideas, not one where only pro-abortion arguments are allowed."
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"Live Action has asked Facebook to rectify this situation by rescinding their fact-check, sending a new notification to all users about the change, and apologizing, as well as reforming their 'fact-check' process."