Pelosi rips 'shameful' Facebook behavior, accuses it of misleading users
US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has attacked “shameful” tech giant Facebook, accusing it of abusing technology to mislead users.
Speaking at a press conference on Thursday, Pelosi said the social media company cares about profits above all else, saying, “The Facebook business model is strictly to make money.”
“They don't care about the impact on children, they don't care about truth, they don't care about where this is all coming from, and they have said even if they know it's not true they will print it,” Pelosi told reporters.
“I think they have been very abusive of the great opportunity that technology has given them,” she added.
Her comments came when she was asked about whether Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg or other tech executives, largely based in or near Pelosi’s San Francisco-area district, hold too much power.
“All they want are their tax cuts and no antitrust action against them,” Pelosi said of Facebook. “And they schmooze this administration in that regard because so far that’s what they have received.”
In recent months, the social media giant and and its CEO have been harshly criticized, mostly by Democrats, over issues ranging from digital privacy, election interference, to antitrust regulation and so on.
Facebook, however, has defended its policy to allow ads with false information in what it describes as an effort to promote free speech on its platform.
“I think what they have said, very blatantly, very clearly, is that they intend to be accomplices for misleading the American people with money from god knows where,” Pelosi said.
“They have been very irresponsible … I think their behavior is shameful,” she added.
The House and the Justice Department, the Federal Trade Commission and state attorneys general are currently conducting antitrust investigations into the company.
Pelosi has vocally criticized the social media giant after it refused last year to remove a video that was doctored to make it sound the Democratic leader was slurring her words.
"I think they have proven — by not taking down something they know is false — that they were willing enablers of the Russian interference in our election," she said in May.
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