Florida Rep. Matt Gaetz on Monday accused Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg of lying to Congress in 2018 and asked the Justice Department to investigate the matter.
In a letter to Attorney General William Barr, Gaetz alleged that Zuckerberg made false statements to Congress about Facebook's content moderation during two hearings two years ago.
"On both occasions, members of Congress asked Mr. Zuckerberg about allegations that Facebook censored and suppressed content supportive of President Donald Trump and other conservatives," Gaetz wrote.
"In his responses, Mr. Zuckerberg repeatedly and categorically denied any bias against conservative speech, persons, policies, or politics," he added. "Mr. Zuckerberg also dismissed the suggestion that Facebook exercises any form of editorial manipulation."
Here's what Zuckerberg said in 2018 when he was asked about whether Facebook harbors anti-conservative bias:
"First, I understand where that concern is coming from because Facebook and the tech industry are located in Silicon Valley, which is an extremely left-leaning place. And this is actually a concern that I have and that I try to root out in the company is making sure that we don't have any bias in the work that we do, and I think it is a fair concern that people would at least wonder about."
In his letter to Barr, Gaetz said that "recent reports from Project Veritas, featuring whistleblowers who worked as Facebook's 'content moderators,' have shown ample evidence" of Facebook's purported "bias and manipulation" against conservative speech.
