There is no dispute that the Facebook video of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., viewed by millions is a fake, deliberately altered to make her appear drunk. YouTube acted fast and removed duplicates. Other social media outlets have not made the same call.
Facebook acknowledged the video is “false” — but said the videos would remain on the platform.
Amid fierce calls across the public and government for Facebook to remove the video — which has been viewed 2.6 million times — and others like it, a Facebook official took to CNN Friday to defend its decision.
Monika Bickert, a company vice president for product policy and counterterrorism, said the video was reviewed by fact-checking organizations, and after it was deemed the video as a hoax, the company “dramatically” reduced its distribution. But Facebook did not remove the video, Bickert said.
“We think it’s important for people to make their own informed choice for what to believe. Our job is to make sure we are getting them accurate information,” she said.
You can watch the video below. CNN’s Anderson Cooper does a nice job filleting Bickert and her ridiculous argument.
In a CNN Exclusive, Monika Bickert, Facebook VP for Product Policy and Counterterrorism, explains why the social media site hasn't removed a manipulated video of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. https://t.co/tr9QRDcAZE pic.twitter.com/fOeMQaepSu
— Anderson Cooper 360° (@AC360) May 25, 2019
A few weeks back, I published Even Sophisticated Facebook Users Need to Be Hypervigilant for Political Misinformation, which illustrated the old adage “a lie travels around the world twice before the truth even gets its shoes on.” Here, Facebook seems to be taking an active role in SPREADING the misinformation, truth and consequences be damned.
If that’s Facebook’s standard -the bar set by probably the biggest online publishing platform out there- well, then I guess I have to dust off the old joke about Glenn Beck and “teaching the controversy.”
Some people say Facebook’s Monika Bickert not only cheats on her husband with his brother, she routinely gets drunk and beats their children to within an inch of their lives. She’s been in and out of rehab, and was recently arrested for shoplifting, again while backsliding on the alcohol.
Are these claims true? No, they are not. I fact, I freely acknowledge that they are nothing but lies.
But I am going to leave them up so my readers can decide for themselves if Monika Bickert cheats on her husbands (she has two), beats her kids bloody with an axe handle at least twice a week, and can’t stop drinking. Some folks are saying those things about Monika Bickert (and worse, if you believe the story about the horse). I think it’s important for people to make their own informed choice for what to believe.
Don’t you?
