Facebook and the Church

Richard A. Sokerka

Following the revelation that millions of Facebook users’ personal data had been compromised, protecting their privacy was front and center before Congress last week. Mark Zuckerberg, Facebook’s co-founder, chairman and CEO was grilled for two days by members of Congress on how to solve his global social media platform’s innumerable failures in this regard.

But what also evolved during the hearings in the questioning of Zuckerberg was Facebook’s use of censorship, specifically toward the Catholic Church on its platform.

Republicans were at the forefront in posing questions about alleged censorship by Facebook of conservative viewpoints and specifically, the Catholic Church.

Congresswoman Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R) of Washington, questioned why Facebook blocked a Catholic theology degree advertisement from the Franciscan University of Steubenville, showing Jesus crucified. The ad was rejected by Facebook over Easter on the grounds that its content was “excessively violent” and “sensational.” Facebook later apologized, but the damage was done. McMorris pressed Zuckerberg, asking, “Could you tell [us] what was so shocking, sensational or excessively violent about the ad to cause it to be initially censored?” Zuckerberg’s answer? “It sounds like we made a mistake there, and I apologize for that.”

Sounds like a mistake? Call it what it is, Mr. Zuckerberg: banning that ad showing Christ on the cross shows a bias against Catholicism.

Sen. Ted Cruz (R) of Texas also confronted Zuckerberg about alleged bias and censorship of religious content, saying Facebook “has blocked over two dozen Catholic pages” as well as conservative content “after determining their content and brand were, quote, ‘unsafe to the community.’”

How is Christian content “unsafe to the community”? Call it what it is, Mr. Zuckerberg: it is a bias against Catholicism.

When Sen. Cruz pressed Zuckerberg about blocking those more than two dozen Catholic pages last year, he replied that he tries to make sure “we do not have any bias,” but conceded that his company is “located in Silicon Valley, which is an extremely left-leaning place.”

Does that explain the bias used by his content managers against Catholic content?

Sen. Ben Sasse (R) of Nebraska said to Zuckerberg: “There are some really passionately held views about the abortion issue on this panel. Can you imagine a world where you might decide that pro-lifers are prohibited from speaking about their abortion views on your platform? “I certainly would not want that to be the case,” responded Zuckerberg.

But, given the past biases, how can Zuckerberg ever guarantee that it won’t happen?

If these hearings before Congress proved anything, it is that Facebook has more than just privacy issues confronting it. The myriad of bias issues strikes a blow at our religious freedom, and it is of the utmost importance to Catholics that Facebook and its employees who monitor content eliminate all bias toward them and their beliefs.