Twitter noticed a uncommon show of bipartisan concord when Florida Republican Consultant Matt Gaetz mentioned he agreed with Democratic New York Consultant Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez that Fb needs to be damaged up.
The uncommon pleasant change got here in response to a current interview the progressive Democrat gave to Yahoo Finance's Andy Serwer.
"Fb needs to be damaged up," mentioned Ocasio-Cortez. "You need to pursue antitrust exercise on Fb. And there are such a lot of completely different the explanation why. They're appearing as an advertiser. They're appearing as each platform and vendor. They're a communications platform, which has traditionally been a well-established area of antitrust."
Gaetz retweeted the interview with the comment, "she's right." He additionally tagged President Joe Biden within the submit.
Newsweek has reached out to Gaetz and Fb for remark.
Fb and different social media giants have drawn criticism in recent times for crowding out opponents, censoring political beliefs and spreading misinformation.
The Federal Commerce Fee has an ongoing lawsuit towards Fb alleging that the corporate has used a "buy-or-bury scheme to keep up its dominance." Fb has sought to have the lawsuit dismissed.
Each the FTC and the U.S. Division of Justice introduced final month they'd replace federal merger guidelines to "to raised detect and stop unlawful, anticompetitive offers."
"Unlawful mergers can inflict a bunch of harms, from larger costs and decrease wages to diminished alternative, decreased innovation and fewer resiliency," FTC chair Lina M. Khan mentioned beforehand.
Congress has additionally taken notice. The Home Judiciary Committee voted over the summer time to go the bipartisan Ending Platform Monopolies Act that seeks to rein in consolidation by huge tech firms. The Senate Judiciary can be contemplating the bipartisan Platform Competitors and Alternative Act, which might give the federal authorities extra tooth to cease mergers it believes are anticompetitive.
Nonetheless, neither invoice has come up for a full vote in both chamber.
Ocasio-Cortez's current remarks aren't the primary time she's taken concern with Fb. The corporate introduced final fall it was rebranding to Meta, after it confronted backlash over inside paperwork launched by a whistleblower exhibiting the way it had allowed misinformation to unfold.
"Meta as in 'we're a most cancers to democracy metastasizing into a world surveillance and propaganda machine for reinforcing authoritarian regimes and destroying civil society ... for revenue!'" Ocasio-Cortez reacted on Twitter.
Aligned with former President Donald Trump, Gaetz has unfold far-right conspiracy theories that embody downplaying the January 6 rebellion and accusing federal brokers of being concerned.
However he is additionally criticized Fb and different social media platforms for what he says is their muffling of conservative factors of view.
"Huge Tech is censoring conservatives," he mentioned throughout a 2020 Fox Information interview within the run-up to the election. "They intend to steal this election from the voters and from Donald Trump and we should always not allow them to."
Gaetz final 12 months joined a gaggle of different Republicans who signed on to a letter to the Fb Oversight Board criticizing the panel's determination to ban Trump from the platform.
"Cases the place conservatives viewpoints have been censored, blocked, diminished hurt the free change of concepts and irreparably harm conservative People' religion within the equity of purportedly impartial actors like Fb," the letter mentioned.
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