In a battle of social media superstars, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez slammed Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg for what she said was his role in fomenting the Jan. 6 riot at Capitol Hill.
“He is part of this problem,” the Democrat said at an online town hall meeting Friday with Bronx and Queens constituents. “And Mark Zuckerberg and Facebook bear partial responsibility for Wednesday’s events, period.”
The social media magnate, she said, has coddled white supremacist groups on Facebook — and even, she charged, attended “dinner parties with white supremacist sympathizers.”
“They specifically treated this type of radicalization differently, aka with kid gloves,” AOC said, pointing to her contentious exchange with Zuckerberg in a congressional hearing in 2019.
“I asked him specifically about disinformation related to the election … and the link between that disinformation and white supremacist ties,” she said. “We saw what was coming for a long time.”
Ocasio-Cortez has claimed for months that Facebook’s use of the conservative news outlet the Daily Caller in its fact-checking efforts is evidence of Zuckerberg’s sympathy toward white supremacists.
“There’s a very clear link here,” she insisted Friday.
The Daily Caller has rejected Ocasio-Cortez’s accusations, calling them “offensive.”
“Currently they’re doing as much damage control as possible,” AOC said Friday, pointing to Facebook’s decision to remove President Trump’s access to the platform in the wake of last week’s violence.
“But they knew,” she said. “And not only did they know, but they allowed it.”