Facebook recently censored PragerU, labeling it “fake news” and limiting its reach even among its own audience. This is a very serious issue, especially as the presidential election gets nearer. As Christians, we must speak out against this unjust censorship.
You may know that PragerU is a nonprofit organization that helps millions understand the values that shape America. It provides millions of Americans and people around the world with the intellectual ammunition they need to advocate for limited government, individual responsibility and economic freedom. Thus far, PragerU has garnered over 3 billion views as it offers resources to the public.
I admire PragerU greatly and have interviewed its founder, Dennis Prager, several times. I’ve also had the privilege of being on Prager’s popular program in Los Angeles, where we talked about a book I wrote called Trump Aftershock. We also discussed the discrimination against Christians in our culture. Prager, an Orthodox Jew, has often been a vocal advocate for Christians because he sees clearly the attack against our country’s Judeo-Christian values.
Charisma News previously reported that Facebook has now joined that attack by labeling PragerU’s content as false news. The controversy began after Facebook censored a video PragerU posted titled “Remember This Starving Polar Bear?” In the video, PragerU exposes how climate change activists on the left have misled people by using images of starving polar bears. PragerU pointed out the photographer who took the photo in question later admitted her picture was misleading.
“Perhaps we made a mistake in not telling the full story—that we were looking for a picture that foretold the future and that we didn’t know what had happened to this particular bear,” the photographer said at the time.
And yet, despite this confession, Facebook labeled PragerU’s video as false news. Facebook’s “independent fact-checkers” referred to a review of the video by a group called Climate Feedback, which accused PragerU of cherry-picking information in their video.
PragerU CEO Marissa Streit said, “Our video exposes the Left’s deception. And that alone is why we’ve been censored.”
Since then, PragerU has created an online petition, asking people to stand against Facebook’s unfair censorship. I’m grateful PragerU is sticking up for itself because we do need to hold Facebook’s feet to the fire. They need to decide once and for all: Are they a platform? Or are they a publisher?
If they decide something does not meet their “community standards,” they have leeway to silence any voice that disagrees with their overall corporate position on political and social issues. Even worse, they can label posts “hate speech” even if they’re just explaining biblical principles.
I discuss this issue more in depth on my podcast today, which I hope you take the time to listen to. If you agree with what you’ve read and what you hear on my podcast, make sure you share this article with your friends and families. It’s time we speak out against unfair censorship.
To learn more about how media bias is influencing the upcoming presidential election, be sure to read my latest books: God, Trump and COVID-19 and God, Trump and the 2020 Election. You can find both those books at SteveStrangBooks.com.
