In a battle with superstars on social media, Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez complained to Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg about what she said was his role in promoting the January 6 riot at Capitol Hill.
“He’s part of this problem,” the Democrat said during an online City Hall meeting with Bronx and Queens voters. “And Mark Zuckerberg and Facebook bear partial responsibility for the events Wednesday, period.”
The social media mogul, she said, taunted white supremacist groups on Facebook – and even, she accused, ‘attended dinner with white sympathizers at the supremacist’.
“They specifically treated this type of radicalization differently, including with children’s gloves,” AOC said, pointing to her controversial conversation with Zuckerberg at a 2019 congressional hearing.
“I asked him specifically about disinformation related to the election … and the connection between the disinformation and white supremacist ties,” she said. “We’ve seen what’s coming for a long time.”
Ocasio-Cortez has been claiming for months that the use of Facebook’s conservative newspaper Daily Caller in his attempts to verify facts is evidence of Zuckerberg’s sympathy with white supremacists.
“There’s a very clear link here,” she insisted Friday.
The Daily Caller rejected Ocasio-Cortez’s accusations, calling them “offensive”.
“Currently, they are doing as much damage control as possible,” AOC said Friday, pointing to Facebook’s decision to remove President Trump’s access to the platform following last week’s violence.
“But they knew,” she said. “And not only did they know, but they also allowed.”