A news-media industry group blasted Facebook on Friday over its “completely arbitrary” decision to block users from sharing a Post report about a Black Lives Matter co-founder’s $3.2 million in real estate holdings.
“There is no balance of power between ‘media’ and ‘Big Tech,'” News Media Alliance CEO David Chavern said in a prepared statement.
“Facebook has shown that one side gets to make all the rules.”
The head of the nonprofit organization — which represents nearly 2,000 American news organizations — said that while the First Amendment prohibits the government from regulating free speech, “major tech platforms certainly do ‘regulate’ the news business.”
“The recent action by Facebook to block a New York Post story was a clear exercise of that power,” Chavern said.
“In particular, the rationale expressed by Facebook was completely arbitrary and could be applied to a wide array of reporting.”
The article revealed that a co-founder of the Black Lives Matter movement, Patrisse Khan-Cullors, a self-described Marxist, has amassed has amassed a real-estate portfolio of four properties in California and Georgia since 2016.
Facebook — which said the report violated its “privacy and personal information policy” — didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.
In an interview with Black News Tonight host Marc Lamont Hill, Khan-Cullors tearfully defended her spending, saying, “I have never taken a salary from the Black Lives Matter Global Networks Foundation.”
But while Khan-Cullors insisted she hasn’t been compensated by the nonprofit organization, she didn’t say whether she’s paid by other, for-profit BLM entities.