Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, argued on “Sunday Morning Futures” that “it now is clear” that Facebook was “utilizing their monopoly position to censor on behalf of the government” regarding information related to COVID-19 and its origins.
Cruz made the comment reacting to Facebook saying on May 26 that it would no longer ban posts suggesting COVID-19 is man-made amid mounting calls from President Biden and other officials for further investigation into the pandemic’s origins.
The announcement marked a reversal for the social media giant. In February, Facebook said it would remove posts claiming the virus was man-made or manufactured “following consultations with leading health organizations, including the World Health Organization” who had “debunked” the claim.
“These latest breakthroughs have real consequence because it now is clear that Facebook was operating at the direction of and in the direct benefit of the federal government and operating as the government’s censor, utilizing their monopoly position to censor on behalf of the government,” Cruz told host Maria Bartiromo.
He then called it “a very dangerous admission that is now out there for Facebook,” explaining that there could be legal ramifications for anybody “whose speech was censored by Facebook” on the topic.
“If you went out and posted the facts that led a year ago to the very strong likelihood that the COVID virus escaped from a Chinese government lab in Wuhan, China, if you posted that a year ago and they took it down, I think there’s a very good argument you have a cause of action against Facebook,” Cruz said.
“Facebook would ordinarily say, ‘We’re a private company, we’re not liable,’” he continued.
“Well, you know what, when they act at the behest of the government, when they contact [Anthony] Fauci, when they say, ‘Should we censor this?’ and Fauci says, ‘Yes’ and they censor it for the federal government and then magically when the government changes its mind, and say, ‘Oh, all those facts that were there a year ago, now you’re allowed to talk about it,’ they stopped censoring it with a flip of a switch, that lays a very strong argument that Facebook is operating as a state agency and that opens very significant legal liability.”
