WASHINGTON -- House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said Facebook's refusal to take down an altered video of her shows that the company's leaders were active contributors to online disinformation and "willing enablers" of Russian interference in the 2016 election.
The California Democrat's comments last week to KQED News marked her first public response to the video since it began spreading online two weeks ago.
"We have said all along, poor Facebook, they were unwittingly exploited by the Russians. I think wittingly, because right now they are putting up something that they know is false. I think it's wrong," she said, according to a transcript of the conversation provided by Pelosi's office. "They're lying to the public."
Pelosi added, "I think they have proven -- by not taking down something they know is false -- that they were willing enablers of the Russian interference in our election."
"For me, I'm in the arena, I've been the target all along," Pelosi added. But "I wonder what they would do if [Facebook CEO] Mark Zuckerberg wasn't portrayed, you know, slowed down, made to look" drunk, she said. If it was "one of their own, would this be -- is this their policy? Or is it just a woman?"
Facebook, which did not immediately respond to requests for comment last week, has acknowledged that the video is intentionally misleading but declined to remove it, saying in a statement May 24 to The Washington Post that "We don't have a policy that stipulates that the information you post on Facebook must be true."
Facebook said it has heavily reduced the video's appearances in people's news feeds. The company said it now plays alongside a small informational box linking to fact-checks indicating that the video is false. When someone attempts to share the video, a pop-up box tells the user that there is "additional reporting" on the video, but the social-media site still allows it to be viewed and shared.
The video's spread on Facebook has continued despite those efforts. When The Washington Post first reported that the video, which had its speed and sound altered to make Pelosi appear to slur her words, was spreading online, it had been viewed more than 1 million times.
As of last week, the number of views had more than doubled. One version of the video had more than 2.8 million views, 30,000 comments and 38,000 shares.
Other Democratic lawmakers have urged Facebook to act more decisively in finding and removing viral disinformation. Rep. Ro Khanna, D-Calif., who represents Silicon Valley, tweeted last week that he had already had to explain to a voter that the video was doctored. "Facebook must remove the video," he said.
A Section on 06/03/2019