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There is a lot of justifiable anger directed at Mark Zuckerberg, and Beege and I have somewhat conflicting views on how angry we should remain at Zuck. 

I left Facebook, on which I was extremely active with a lot of followers, because the censorship was inhibiting my reach, which was offensive in itself, and I could reach more people writing at Hot Air anyway. It suppressed my reach, getting to moderates who followed me, but I couldn’t stomach being censored like that. COVID policies broke my loyalty to Facebook. 

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But I see no point in holding a grudge now that Facebook is reversing course and revealing the reasons why they engaged in the censorship: the Biden administration outright threatened them if they didn’t. And, as much as I like the argument that the company should have stood up and fought, the reality is that it is a public corporation, and the threats were more than notional. 

You may recall that both administration figures and Senate Democrats were screaming loudly about regulating or breaking up social media companies, including explicit threats linked to controlling “disinformation.” Nice trillion-dollar company you have there. It would be a shame if something happened to it. 

Elon brought Twitter (now X) private and could flip off the government, and he loved the fight. Facebook has a responsibility to its shareholders, and I suppose Zuck probably doesn’t share the same love of the fight that Elon does. I guess you could say that Elon goes above and beyond the call of duty; Zuck, not so much. 

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It’s not that Facebook isn’t too woke for my taste–I am not going back, having left it behind and seeing no need. But I think it doesn’t make sense to punish a person or company for finally coming around. We may choke on the words, but praising somebody for seeing the light is a lot more effective than attacking them for being too late. 

You basically put companies in a position of lose-lose. The Left gets furious, and the Right doesn’t praise them. Take the win, I say. 

And the winning is getting good with Facebook. 

They have dumped the fake “fact checkers,” who are bashing them for doing so. That is part of the cost Facebook is paying, and if history is any guide, the Left will try to demonetize Facebook. Facebook, though, is a Goliath and is probably uncancelable by anybody but the government. 

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There is zero doubt that the election of Trump has given Zuckerberg and Facebook the room to maneuver and the incentive to change, but don’t underestimate the blowback from META employees that will surely follow. In a recent poll–I forget by whom–corporate leaders said they feared their employees more than regulators on these matters, and with good reason. Employee revolts must be nightmares, and if you aren’t backed by cultural and governmental encouragement, the pain can be intense. 

Not to mention that the Biden administration was colluding with European governments to impose censorship, and when the governments over which most of your customers rule are determined to destroy you, buckling to the pressure may not be a profile in courage, but also is probably seen as prudent by your Board of Directors. 

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There is a lot to be angry about looking back–not just with Facebook censorship–especially with Zuckerbucks. I don’t forgive him for that, but I also don’t see the point of focusing on it. It is in the rearview mirror, and Facebook seems to be making all the right moves, and if it continues to do so, we should celebrate. 

Does arguing this make me soft? I don’t think so. It makes me realistic. If we can make the world a better place by making it easier to come over to our side, I say go for it. We should applaud the celebrities, companies, influencers, and journalists who break with the cultural elite and want to work with us. 

We are stronger together. Sitting across the table with former leftists or their enablers may be uncomfortable, but every person or entity who joins us makes us stronger and the Left weaker. 

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Jump on in! The water is warm.