Mark Zuckerberg has given the non-conservative half of the country a new reason to hate him this week as it's come out that he secretly met with groups of right-wing pundits, professional firebrands, and journalists in order to appease their cries of liberal bias.
Zuckerberg reportedly wined and dined these Trump-supporting media folks on more than one occasion for off-the-record talks at his homes in California starting in July — his answer, it seems, to Trump's own White House "summit" in July in which he entertained some of his more ardent (and nutty) Twitter supporters to discuss this same perceived bias that they can not prove. As Politico reports, Zuck's dinners included the likes of CNN commentator Mary Katharine Ham, Washington Examiner chief political correspondent and Fox News contributor Byron York, conservative radio talk host Hugh Hewitt, Fox News show host and white supremacist denier Tucker Carlson, conservative pundit Ben Shapiro, former Washington Free Beacon editor Matt Continetti, Fox News contributor Guy Benson, and Media Research Center founder Brent Bozell.
The source for Politico says that the discussions at these dinners with Zuckerberg focused on topics like "free expression, unfair treatment of conservatives, the appeals process for real or perceived unfair treatment, fact checking, partnerships, and privacy." Zuckerberg and his company have consistently denied that there is any basis for criticisms about the silencing of conservatives — and, in fact, Fox News has one of the most engaged-with pages on all of Facebook.
In defense of the meetings, Zuckerberg posted to Facebook on Monday saying, "To be clear, I have dinners with lots of people across the spectrum on lots of different issues all the time. Meeting new people and hearing from a wide range of viewpoints is part of learning. If you haven't tried it, I suggest you do!"
Oh, please.
Earlier this year, Zuckerberg also sat down with frequent critic among Republican senators, Lindsey Graham. And last month, Zuck had an unannounced White House meeting with President Trump in which he could barely pull off a convincingly gracious smile.
As the Associated Press reports, the #DeleteFacebook hashtag picked up steam once again on Twitter on Monday, following the report on Zuck's summer meetings.
I deleted Facebook years ago & I’ve never regretted it.
— Dr Jenny Thatcher (@JennyAThatcher) October 15, 2019
Just hear someone liken it to a shity admin job that you don’t get paid for. #DeleteFacebook
seeing #deletefacebook trending today…but like didn’t we all collectively do that years ago?
— seamus gorman (@gormanseamus) October 15, 2019
I deleted Facebook years ago & I’ve never regretted it.
— Dr Jenny Thatcher (@JennyAThatcher) October 15, 2019
Just hear someone liken it to a shity admin job that you don’t get paid for. #DeleteFacebook
Previously: This Photo Of Mark Zuckerberg Looking Trump In the Eyes Is Everything
Photo: Anthony Quintano/Wikimedia Commons