House Republican presses Meta on censoring political content

Texas Rep. August Pfluger (R) expressed concern in a letter to Meta on Tuesday over the platform’s decision to automatically opt users out of political content, arguing the platform’s users should be able to make that decision for themselves.

“I write to reiterate my concern about Meta Platforms, Inc.’s actions to proactively opt users out of political and social content across all platforms. I firmly believe that users should have the right to decide if they wish to opt out of ‘political and social content,’ not the platform,” Pfluger wrote to Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg and COO Javier Olivan.

“By automatically opting users out, Meta is actively suppressing users’ ability to access this
information, a choice that should be the users to make,” the letter read.

Pfluger referenced a separate letter sent by Meta in July in which the platform said its decision was based on feedback from users.

“People have told us they want to see less political content, so we have spent the last few years refining our approach on Facebook to reduce the amount of political content,” Meta wrote.

In the July letter, Meta defined political content as “content that is likely about topics related to government or elections, even if that content is satirical, comedic, or journalistic” and includes posts about laws or elections.

Instagram initiated this practice earlier this year, prompting users to have to go into their settings on the app to turn the limiting feature off. Instagram’s move sparked concern among content creators and advocacy groups over which issues will be included.

Pfluger had also sent a letter in June expressing concern over Meta’s decision on Instagram, which he referenced in Tuesday’s letter.

“In my original letter, I explained that by restricting content, Meta’s policies hinder elected officials’ ability to serve their constituents. This limitation prevents citizens from staying informed about the actions of their federal, state, and local government agencies and officials, thereby undermining the very foundation of informed citizenship,” Pfluger wrote in the latest letter.

Pfluger urged Meta to reverse its policies, especially given the importance of an election year.

“It is especially alarming that META has chosen to pursue this decision during an election year when citizens are more receptive to political and social content to keep them informed of the issues,” he added.

A Meta spokesperson said in an emailed statement to The Hill that the platform has repeatedly said that users have wanted to see less political content and referred to a series of updates about the decision.

“As we’ve said for years, people have told us they want to see less politics overall while still being able to engage with political content on our platforms if they want to. Our approach to political content does not change how we show people content from accounts they choose to follow and does not impact the ability of someone to post political content,” the spokesperson said in an emailed statement.

 “If people still want to see political content on recommendation surfaces, there is a control for people to choose to see it,” the spokesperson added, with a link explaining the platform’s approach.

Updated at 4:52 p.m.