Today, Mark Zuckerberg testified before Congress and the subject (at least in part) was child sexual abuse material being promoted on Facebook and Instagram. Senator Cruz had beat on Zuckerberg, metaphorically, here:
.@SenTedCruz confronts Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg over Instagram users being allowed to click to view images that may contain child pornography:
— Conservative War Machine (@WarMachineRR) January 31, 2024
"Mr. Zuckerberg, what the hell were you thinking? pic.twitter.com/vBQ3GQ6iBA
And that led to an exchange where Senator Hawley invited Zuckerberg to apologize … and then he did:
Hawley just called on Zuckerberg to apologize directly to the the families in the audience of victims who were impacted by child sexual exploitation on Meta platforms.
— Greg Price (@greg_price11) January 31, 2024
Zuck then gets up and does it. pic.twitter.com/YJWCcZDAC7
First, you should know by now how this game is played. Very often members of Congress force people in charge of media companies to appear before them to basically chew them out for what they think is bad behavior. It might be a movie company, a newspaper or website, or, in this case, the head of a social networking company. Sometimes what they think is bad behavior is genuinely bad. Certainly, Instagram helping pedophiles find child abuse material qualifies. And sometimes it really isn’t, like if a Democratic politician tries to pressure Twitter/X to suspend a popular conservative account.
Second, we are going to have to disagree with Ted Cruz on the issue of people clicking on the material anyway. One of this author’s best friends, the late John Hoge (@wjjhoge) had a problem for a while on Twitter/X. In his day job, he worked for NASA, so it shouldn’t surprise you that he liked astronomy. So, on his blog (Hogewash), he ran a regular feature called ‘Star Porn’ where he would post various astronomy-related pictures and he would promote them via Twitter/X. Here’s an example of one of these posts:
Recommended
#StarPorn A Star and a Nebula @ZillaStevenson http://t.co/pnMB8f6zdp pic.twitter.com/Vc1ot2hjaS
— The WJJ Hoge (@wjjhoge) August 22, 2015
Harmless, right? Well, except that for a while, Twitter/X started attaching sensitive content warnings, which made you have to click through to see them. It got bad enough that he ended up having to send a Cease and Desist Letter to their legal department to get them to stop—and they did eventually stop. But as the result of this and other behavior we have seen, this author doesn’t trust these kinds of content warnings and we don’t know why anyone should. So, we don’t think a person clicking on the media anyway really means very much, contrary to what Senator Cruz thinks. We think the only thing it proves is that you don’t trust these warnings.
Finally, we think there was a real dilemma Zuckerberg faced when deciding whether to apologize. Very often the moment someone apologizes, a scandal kicks into high gear. For instance, Conservatives had been complaining for years about political discrimination at the hands of the IRS in terms of getting charities designated as such by the IRS during the Obama adminstration. But that scandal didn’t explode until Lois Lerner apologized for doing it, because the apology was also simultaneously an admission there was something to complain about (it wasn’t just in our imagination) and because it was an admission that their conduct was wrong. So, Zuckerberg risks kicking the scandal on this issue into high gear by what he said.
But at the same time, if he didn’t even apologize after damning presentations like that given by Senator Cruz, he would arguably look like an unfeeling monster. As another Twitchy writer, Coucy wrote to us via direct message: ‘for a guy who’s popularly viewed as being an inhuman robot having a relatively human moment of getting up to apologize when it’s suggested is probably good from a PR standpoint[.]’ We tend to think that is right and, even if was a totally calculated move on Zuckerberg’s part, it’s a smart move.
It's certainly not the clear self-own that Mark Cuban had the other day. Heh.
Of course there were also reactions. We will start with reactions to the apology:
Good for him... https://t.co/MowIxfIVyb
— @amuse (@amuse) January 31, 2024
Facebook Is complicit in so much more. How many people died because they pushed the remdesivir and vent narrative and blocked all chatter against it? https://t.co/BIGPMQoa4e
— AmyLouWho (@perseverare1776) January 31, 2024
They did nothing but embarrass him. Nothing. He isn't being held responsible for anything. https://t.co/XvRfte6J7u
— LadyPatriot (@Marechtare_) January 31, 2024
These platforms colluded with the U.S. government to censor Americans, but when it came to tackling child p-rn/s*x trafficking, they turned a blind eye.
— ZNO 🇺🇸 (@therealZNO) January 31, 2024
They could have done something; they chose not to.
The CEOs are complicit.
They need to be charged accordingly. https://t.co/zQSqyj6DHz
It raises a good point. While we now know how much pressure was being put on social media companies by the government to censor people speaking out against vaccines and bringing up Hunter Biden’s laptop, the same people didn’t seem nearly as interested in stopping the flow of child abuse material.
This is what happens when you elect republicans whose balls have actually dropped. Way to go Josh Hawley!! https://t.co/WN0JRLbDBx
— Tiffany 𝕏 (@tiffanylloree) January 31, 2024
We are not going to attempt to verify that claim about their testicles.
Good…it’s a start.
— Kris (@BrincoBrinco) January 31, 2024
A small start but it’s something. https://t.co/MhfQkxfxV0
Hawley went scorched earth on Zuckerberg, he was speechless, he then shamed him into apologizing to the parents in the room. Bravo @HawleyMO !
— LynyrdsMom (@Lynyrds_Mom) January 31, 2024
This is a public relations stunt. Facebook is dying and he’s trying to save it. He really doesn’t care about who is harmed by his platform.
— NAPWP (@NAPWP587902) January 31, 2024
Shame is a great motivator. Hawley owned Zuckerberg in front of the world.
— Savannah (@BasedSavannah) January 31, 2024
I think Mark Zuckerberg is an evil person. That being said, do not give your children unfettered Internet access. In the 1980s would your parents have allowed you to become penpals or phone buddies with complete strangers? Obviously not.
— Cooking With Sal Minella (@SalMinellaUtube) January 31, 2024
That was like a young child being forced to apologize bc mom is holding him by the ear
— Joe (@joe23454321) January 31, 2024
How CNN spun the story pic.twitter.com/5CQTMR7Hl2
— Punta (@PuntaKill_) January 31, 2024
words are only meaningful if they're followed by concrete action, but Zuckerberg's gesture does signal a willingness to acknowledge the pain caused by the tech industry and to work towards making things better.
— Sonam Murarkar (@murarkar_sonam) January 31, 2024
And, of course, Senator Cruz’s questioning got reactions, too:
Ted may a total nimby in real life sometimes, but he ain't wrong here. https://t.co/mUuLCMmJNd
— Steven Mallett (@Steven_Mallett) January 31, 2024
Did you know Ted was born in Calgary, Alberta Canada in 1970. How is he able to run for office. ??
— B_Fraser 🇨🇦🇺🇦 (@BFraser75116038) January 31, 2024
Well, first, he is probably technically a naturally born American citizen by statute. We haven’t looked into it, but that would be our guess. Second, you don’t have to be a natural born citizen to hold most offices in American politics, including Senator. The only two offices you have to be a natural born American citizen to hold is President and Vice President.
And it is weird to lodge that complaint when he is trying to reduce access to child sexual abuse material.
They don't care about you or your kids. Hi Bob 👋 pic.twitter.com/rCZmFEDbhN
— Branos (@thesonofbran) January 31, 2024
Don’t forget who these people are👇💯 pic.twitter.com/UqEdXQ99kh
— Liberacrat Media™️ (@Liberacrat_) January 31, 2024
At what point are these CEOs complicit? They had no issue effectively censoring COVID “misinformation”… but we can’t get child porn off the platform?
— Caroline (@carolinecwilder) January 31, 2024
This is not a capability problem.
This is a care problem.
Ted Cruz really took the gloves off.
— Paul A. Szypula 🇺🇸 (@Bubblebathgirl) January 31, 2024
It was nice to watch.
These social media companies, especially Meta and TikTok are devils.
Too bad Apple and Google weren’t there to similarly get reprimanded.
Well done Cruz!
Yeah, it’s funny about that. We are old enough to remember that Parler wasn’t allowed to have its application in the Apple App Store or Google Play Store because they didn’t do enough to censor people. But for some reason, Instagram actually promoted child sexual abuse material, and was never suspended? What a telling set of priorities we keep seeing.
Mark Zuckerberg has profited immensely off of C.P. and child sex trafficking.
— American #185376980 (@NewYoekTines) January 31, 2024
He is a disgusting rat and should be tried for reason for his interference in the 2020 election by censoring real news. His money and properties should be split up into organizations fixing his sins. https://t.co/yGIO3Fnk7j
Finally, to shift gears a little, some of you might not have known that this author’s friend, John Hoge, had passed on, as we mentioned above. We announced it on Twitter/X the day of and it got some reach, but we still run into people who just missed it somehow, which is perfectly normal. If you missed it, here’s where we announced his passing:
I want to take a moment to announce that my best friend, John Hoge (@wjjhoge) has passed on. His son, William Hoge IV, called me this morning to share the terrible news. Earlier today, he was driving as normal when he had a heart attack. What little chance he had of surviving was…
— (((Aaron Walker))) (@AaronWorthing) December 15, 2023
The full text reads:
I want to take a moment to announce that my best friend, John Hoge (@wjjhoge) has passed on. His son, William Hoge IV, called me this morning to share the terrible news. Earlier today, he was driving as normal when he had a heart attack. What little chance he had of surviving was foreclosed when he struck the side railing on the road. I am told that no other persons were hurt in that accident. I have no doubt that John would be glad to hear that no one else was harmed.
A few years ago, his beloved wife, Connie Hoge had also passed on. I don’t think he ever fully got over losing her and I think everyone who knows him would be comforted by the thought that they are together again in heaven. Maybe doing some slow dancing. Maybe just enjoying each other’s company.
Will is still working through the details, such as when he will be memorialized. I am sure Will would appreciate any thoughts and prayers for John and everyone who cared for him. And I am sure John would want well-wishers to donate to Connie’s Fund, here: https://hogewash.com/connies-fund/
(But you might also save your money possibly to help Will with final expenses.)
I know many people online and offline will be mourning him. I will not be able to name them all, and I won’t try. But of particular mention is @PatriarchTree, @GrizzlyJoeShow, @RonColeman, @yidwithlid and @kagsundaram. I am sure I am leaving out ppl who don’t deserve it. I apologize in advance to those ppl.
We lost a good one today, folks.
We have no doubt that his loved ones would appreciate any prayers you wished to offer.
***
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