EXCLUSIVE: A senior Republican senator will accuse Meta – Facebook’s parent company – of “shadow banning” and removing social media posts in a letter Tuesday demanding answers from the CEO Mark Zuckerberg.
Sen. Joni Ernst, R-Iowa, the top Republican in the Small Business Committeewill partially quote a 2022 Washington Post report on the “deamplification” of certain Facebook and Instagram content by social media companies.
The report discussed Meta’s response to “problematic content,” which the then-executive described as “borderline” and argued that it should have a smaller reach due to its propensity to go viral.
In the letter to Zuckerberg’s office in San Mateo County, CaliforniaErnst claimed these contents included both military contents and the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in Virginia.
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The Tomb of the Unknown Soldier at Arlington National Cemetery in Virginia. (John Greim/LightRocket via Getty Images)
“Among other things, their platform provides an unprecedented opportunity to connect the U.S. military with younger generations. “That is why I am concerned about Meta’s continued shadow ban and removal from U.S. Armed Forces posts,” Ernst wrote in the letter, obtained exclusively by Fox News Digital.
“Our nation’s defense depends entirely on the voluntary recruitment of courageous women and men willing to risk their lives so that every American can freely express their opinions.”
In remarks to Fox News Digital, Ernst said Americans’ freedoms were only possible through the all-volunteer armed forces in which she previously served.
“I worry that Meta’s algorithms are hindering our investments in connecting and recruiting the next generation of warfighters,” she added.
“The service and sacrifice of the brave men and women in uniform should be celebrated, not diminished.”
In her letter, Ernst accused Meta of sporadically adjusting its violation policies without “clear justification” and cited reports to Congress that showed an increase in content restrictions on military-related posts.
“I am concerned that Meta’s algorithms are hindering our investments in connecting and recruiting the next generation of warfighters,” wrote Senator Joni Ernst. (Drew Angerer/Getty Images)
By embedding an image of an Instagram violation warning in a particular post, Ernst listed a handful of such reports and their loss of cyber “reach.”
A six-hour ban on a post on February 29 resulted in the loss of 2,500 impressions and 500 interactions, while a similar situation on March 3 reduced a post’s reach by 5,000 impressions and 1,100 interactions.
Ten posts on the social media account GoArmy were flagged as violating policies over a three-day period in September, Ernst said, and the account was briefly placed on “not recommended” status twice.
The senator said the Army’s public affairs office reported disturbances at several posts, including one involving the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier and another involving soldiers aboard a helicopter.
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Facebook (Kurt “CyberGuy” Knutsson via Fox News Digital)
In return, Ernst asked Zuckerberg to outline the guidelines for communicating military-related content and sending it to account holders.
She also asked for an explanation about the apparent suppression of the post on the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier and the measures taken so far to prevent future shadow bans, which should not take place.
Lawmakers also demanded an estimate of the cost of official advertisements approved by the Pentagon that were suppressed.
