House Speaker Nancy Pelosi today blasted Facebook over its decision to keep up videos doctored to depict her slurring her words, citing the incident as proof the company was a "willing enabler" of Russia's election meddling.
"We have said all along, poor Facebook, they were unwittingly exploited by the Russians.
I think wittingly, because right now they are putting up something that they know is false. I think it's wrong," she said, according to California radio station KQED. "I can take it. ... But [Facebook is] lying to the public."She added: "I think they have proven — by not taking down something they know is false — that they were willing enablers of the Russian interference in our election."
Facebook said Friday it would not take down the videos, some of which have garnered millions of views, because their rules don’t prevent users from posting false information.
The justification quickly drew scorn from lawmakers on both sides of the aisle, who have long criticized the company for not doing enough to curb misinformation on its platform.
House Homeland Security Chairman Bennie Thompson (D-Miss.), who has pressed Facebook to clean up its act on harmful content, on Sunday called the manipulated videos a “sad omen of what is to come in the 2020 election season.”
Article originally published on POLITICO Magazine