Republicans and Mark Zuckerberg want you to know they are not to blame for their own fake news on Facebook

House Republicans and Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg made one thing clear on Capitol Hill during a Thursday hearing: they are absolutely not the ones to blame for the rampant plague of digital misinformation consuming America. 

Despite themselves promoting flagrantly false conspiracy theories on social media and claiming the election had been stolen from former President Donald Trump, several GOP lawmakers who tweeted hashtags after Election Day like #StoptheSteal were in attendance at the House Energy and Commerce Committee hearing, which featured tech executives like Zuckerberg, as well as Google’s Sundar Pichai and Twitter’s Jack Dorsey. 

No, the current state of the nation’s political discourse certainly wasn’t the fault of elected lawmakers who spent the last several months whipping their supporters into a frenzy over repeatedly debunked claims they knew were untrue. 

So who is to blame? Well, certainly not the leader of the platform where those mistruths were shared and engaged with millions of time over.

Despite furious lawmakers like Rep Michael Doyle asserting that platforms like Facebook had “supercharged” polarizing rhetoric ahead of the election, the 36-year-old CEO remained calm, cool and collected, and refused to acknowledge any role his social network might have played in the buildup to the January 6 Capitol insurrection. To the unknowing eye, it would have almost appeared as if Zuckerberg genuinely believed his company played no role in the quality of discourse surrounding US politics today. Almost. 

While Twitter CEO Dorsey acknowledged his own platform — which on any given day may present a cesspool of misinformation to the average user — held some responsibility, the heads of Google and Facebook were not ready or willing to admit fault. And why should they? When the folks interrogating them are the exact active users promoting the misinformation they were in Washington to discuss, deflecting and denying is just part of the game. 

According to the Republicans who promoted election misinformation, as well as one of the key executives who allowed those conspiracies to take on lives of their own, everyone but them is to blame for where we are as a country.  And despite their very public animosity towards Facebook and other social media giants or “Big Tech”, the Republicans who pushed election conspiracies have actually found the perfect enabler in Zuckerberg. Here is someone who can be used as a punching bag for their performative decrying of alleged conservative censorship, while at the same time can provide resources to amplify their own agenda. 

Thursday’s spectacle was conducted virtually, as lawmakers pressed executives on their next steps for improving the state of digital ecosystems and online political discourse. And while it may not be clear when or if Facebook actually plans to finally take significant steps to block fake news and disinformation, one thing is for sure: you better not blame Zuckerberg when your grandma posts that meme about “what the MSM won’t tell you” for the tenth time this week.