Leftists and journalists erupted in rage last week after news broke that Facebook hired a former Fox News producer to help curate news on the platform. One Facebook employee, who spoke exclusively to Breitbart News, thinks they’re a bunch of hypocrites.
“There would not be outrage over a CNN hire at all,” said the Facebook employee, who preferred not to be named in this story. “It would be welcomed as it is the ‘correct’ way of thinking according to the majority who work here.”
“I’m fine with different opinions [at Facebook]” said the source, contrasting himself with his more left-leaning colleagues at the company.
The source mocked mainstream media outlets for demanding “fact checks” from Facebook, when those same media outlets frequently face controversy for spreading fake news.
“Are we talking the Washington Post and New York Times who are currently issuing corrections (stealthy or otherwise)? Or do we mean CNN who just settled a lawsuit with the Covington kid? Or do you mean MSNBC opinion shows masquerading as news?” asked the source, sarcastically.
“It’s the pot calling the kettle black. But it’s also like calling out Google for its less than stellar behavior when it comes to say, protecting IP. That ship sailed long ago. If you had an issue with it, why’d you wait until Trump got in office to bring it up?”
The source said he believed the leadership of Facebook is genuine in its commitment to viewpoint diversity, but that lower-ranking employees of the company hate the idea of playing along with outreach to conservatives.
“What I hear in my department is that ‘oh, Mark [Zuckerberg] wants to appeal to everyone,'” said the source.
“But this usually followed by what I call a ‘silent but.’ In other words, everyone there would be shocked if they met conservatives in the building, let alone had a conversation that challenged their way of thinking.”
“I do think the leaders of FB are between a rock and a hard place. They certainly want everyone to have a voice. They really do. The ones at the very top mean it, if only because they are capitalists who want people from all walks of life to use their site. They want as much data as possible, right?”
“Generally speaking, the rest of the company isn’t necessarily on board.”
The source added that beyond the recent Fox News hire, he had not seen any major efforts to promote diversity of viewpoint within the company, although he conceded that the tech giant is “doing a better job from a marketing standpoint in terms of trying to appeal to the red state folks.”
The source said that there is bias at Facebook, but that because of the segmented, “walled garden” nature of the company, it has significantly less power to tip the scales in an election than Google.
The employee added that he hoped Facebook would do more to tackle political bias at the company.
“You could only prevent someone’s bias if they first admitted they had one,” said the source. “I’ve attended seminars on bias before. Gender bias and racial bias. There’s never been one on political bias. I would dearly love to see that if only because I’d love to see heads explode.”
Allum Bokhari is the senior technology correspondent at Breitbart News.