{"id":2388673,"date":"2025-01-10T06:29:02","date_gmt":"2025-01-10T11:29:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/the-censors-are-in-retreat-washington-examiner\/"},"modified":"2025-01-10T06:30:18","modified_gmt":"2025-01-10T11:30:18","slug":"the-censors-are-in-retreat-washington-examiner","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/the-censors-are-in-retreat-washington-examiner\/","title":{"rendered":"The censors are in retreat &#8211; Washington Examiner"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">16<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fthe-censors-are-in-retreat-washington-examiner%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=2388673&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p>The\u2063 article\u200b discusses\u2064 the recent shift in policy from Mark Zuckerberg, the CEO of\u2063 facebook,\u2062 regarding censorship on the platform. He\u2064 announced a move away from strict \u2062content\u200c moderation practices, \u2062emphasizing a goal to &#8220;get back \u2064to our roots&#8221; by\u2064 simplifying policies and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/fcc-moves-to-revive-obama-era-net-neutrality\/\" title=\"FCC revives Obama-era &#039;net neutrality&#039;.\">promoting free expression<\/a>. The piece applauds this change,suggesting that previous fact-checking measures were inadequate and \u2062that \u200cmany were motivated\u200d by bias rather than\u2064 a commitment to truth. The author \u2063argues that while some fact-checkers may\u2062 have been diligent, the overall approach hindered genuine journalism and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/using-wrong-pronouns-should-be-criminal-offense-say-almost-half-of-millennials-survey-2\/\" title=\"Almost half of millennials believe that using incorrect pronouns should be considered a &quot;criminal offense,&quot; according to a survey.\">free \u2064speech<\/a>.  <\/p>\n<p class=\"readmore\">\n    <button onclick=\"showReadMore()\" id=\"readmorebtn\">Read more&#8230;<\/button>\n<\/p>\n<hr id=\"line\">\n<span id=\"more\"><\/p>\n<p><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><\/p>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><span class=\"tdb-mobile-menu-button\"><i class=\"tdb-mobile-menu-icon td-icon-mobile\"><\/i><\/span><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><span class=\"tdb-header-search-button-mob dropdown-toggle\" data-toggle=\"dropdown\"><i class=\"tdb-mobile-search-icon td-icon-search\"><\/i><\/span><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><span class=\"tdb-mobile-menu-button\"><i class=\"tdb-mobile-menu-icon td-icon-mobile\"><\/i><\/span><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\">\n<div class=\"tdb-drop-down-search\" aria-labelledby=\"td-header-search-button\">\n<div class=\"tdb-drop-down-search-inner\">\n<form method=\"get\" class=\"tdb-search-form\" action=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/\"><\/form>\n<div class=\"tdb-aj-search\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/#\" role=\"button\" aria-label=\"Search\" class=\"tdb-head-search-btn dropdown-toggle\" data-toggle=\"dropdown\"><i class=\"tdb-search-icon td-icon-search\"><\/i><\/a><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\">\n<h1 class=\"tdb-title-text\">The censors are in retreat<\/h1>\n<div><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-title-line\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\">\n<div id=\"Brid_1930800\" class=\"tpd-featured-video bridtv\"><\/div>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/mark-zuckerberg\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"\">Mark Zuckerberg<\/a>&rsquo;s Jan. 7 backflip ending <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/facebook\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"\">Facebook<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/censorship\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"\">censorship<\/a> is welcome. &ldquo;We&rsquo;re going to get back to our roots and focus on reducing mistakes,&rdquo; he said, &ldquo;simplifying our policies, and restoring free expression on our platforms.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<div class=\"article-paywall\">\n<p>He finally agrees with those of us who&rsquo;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/biden-ramps-up-abortion-agenda\/\" title=\"Biden Ramps Up Abortion Agenda\">ve long argued<\/a> that fact-checkers are sinners like everyone else and a crummy substitute for <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/free-speech\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"\">free speech<\/a>.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Some Facebook checkers were honest enough to seek the truth and talented enough to know it when they saw it. But many weren&rsquo;t, and even the good ones were a disservice to journalism because they gave cover to lesser species deploying the system as a mechanism for censoring conservative reporting and opinion.<\/p>\n<p>In the<em> Washington Examiner&rsquo;s<\/em> experience, not a single instance of Facebook censors &ldquo;flagging&rdquo; a story was justified. When we challenged the suppression, the checkers refused to discuss it or, having talked it through, admitted they didn&rsquo;t know the subject as well as we did and reversed their decision.<\/p>\n<p>But it took days before their mistake or malice was reversed, by which time the damage was done and the story was read by fewer people than it would have been. Zuckerberg conceded, &ldquo;A program intended to inform often became a tool to censor. &hellip; Too much harmless content gets censored, too many people find themselves <a href=\"https:\/\/amzn.to\/3YuVZYV\">wrongly locked&#038;rdquo<\/a>; out.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">(Getty Images)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Facebook was not the worst offender. Censors at a disreputable outfit called the Global Disinformation Index put the <em>Washington Examiner <\/em>on a secret hit list used to cut off advertising revenue from targeted conservative news outlets. Our &ldquo;offense&rdquo; was to comment approvingly on data in the American Family Survey showing that <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/the-red-wave-of-conservative-women-elected-to-congress\/\" title=\"The Red Wave of Conservative Women Elected to Congress\">conservative women<\/a> are happier than liberal women, an opinion valid even if it makes angry and sad liberal women angrier and sadder.<\/p>\n<p>GDI ostensibly focuses only on foreign misinformation, but that was a fraudulent promise and its nefarious practices were partly financed by federal taxpayer dollars in blatant disregard for First Amendment free speech protections.<\/p>\n<p>Congress has cut off money to the Global Engagement Center, which passed it to GDI, but <em>Washington Examiner<\/em> reporting has found <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/investigations\/3274279\/state-department-documents-reveal-secret-plans-censorship-new-hub\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"\">documents showing<\/a> GEC staff may be reallocated to a different &ldquo;hub&rdquo; in the Washington bureaucracy where they can continue the same work.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"\"><strong><\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<p>We cannot expect the Left&rsquo;s censors to abandon their efforts to suppress conservative reporting and opinion without a fight. They have convinced themselves that both are not just wrong but evil. As one <em>Washington Examiner<\/em> contributor wrote me after Zuckerberg&rsquo;s U-turn, &ldquo;I&rsquo;d watch out for that sort of stuff &mdash; [algorithms and artificial intelligence doing the censorship] &mdash; in the implementation of Marvelous Mark&rsquo;s dramatic promise.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>But the censors are in retreat. They have been routed by Elon Musk from X. They have been exposed as corrupt everywhere. They have been revealed as a tool for Democrats aided by the government. But voters have thrown Democrats out of office both from the White House and on Capitol Hill, and incoming Republicans promise to root out abuses that have gripped Washington in recent years. It will be up to the <em>Washington Examiner<\/em> and the rest of the news business to make sure they do.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p> <script data-cfasync=\"false\" src=\"http:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/cdn-cgi\/scripts\/5c5dd728\/cloudflare-static\/email-decode.min.js\"><\/script><script>!function(){var g=window;g.googletag=g.googletag||{},g.googletag.cmd=g.googletag.cmd||[],g.googletag.cmd.push(function(){g.googletag.pubads().setTargeting(\"has-featured-video\",\"true\")})}();<\/script><script>var _bp=_bp||[];_bp.push({\"div\":\"Brid_1930800\",\"obj\":{\"id\":\"27789\",\"width\":\"1280\",\"height\":\"720\",\"stickyDirection\":\"below\",\"video\":\"1930800\"}});<\/script><script defer src=\"https:\/\/services.brid.tv\/player\/build\/brid.min.js\"><\/script><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<p><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Censors are retreating as Zuckerberg ends Facebook censorship<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3224,"featured_media":2388674,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/Meta-Facebook-Tech-Social-Media-hh1t1-Zuckerberg-1-Trump.webp","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[6371,32311,46503,32076],"class_list":["post-2388673","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-censorship","tag-free-speech","tag-media-freedom","tag-washington-examiner"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/Meta-Facebook-Tech-Social-Media-hh1t1-Zuckerberg-1-Trump.webp","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2388673","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3224"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2388673"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2388673\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2388677,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2388673\/revisions\/2388677"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2388674"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2388673"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2388673"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2388673"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}