Republicans are suddenly realizing they can't keep attacking Facebook — here's why: columnist

This week, Facebook whistleblower Frances Haugen told a bipartisan committee about the horrors of how her former company put profits over the safety of children and the dissemination of accurate news.

But on Thursday, writing for Slate, Aaron Mak noted that many Republican pundits — who have long bashed Facebook for supposedly censoring conservatives — are suddenly realizing that they can't stay on the anti-Facebook train.

"After Haugen appeared before the Senate Commerce Subcommittee on Consumer Protection to much bipartisan praise, conservative outlets began disparaging her personally and framing the affair as a made-up scandal," wrote Mak. "The reasons why these personalities have split with politicians on the issue are numerous, and they contain one interesting wrinkle: They illustrate just how reliant the right has been on Facebook's dominance this whole time."

As Mak noted, even while firebrand GOP politicians like Sens. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) and Ted Cruz (R-TX) joined Democrats in praising the whistleblower for coming forward, pundits reacted differently. Fox Nation commentator Dan Bongino claimed that Haugen is part of a "left-wing op," far-right YouTuber Steven Crowder made sexually derogatory attacks on her and called her warnings about teen suicide a "predator feminist agenda," and Jesse Watters of "The Five" said Facebook should not be blamed for political polarization. And Ben Shapiro called it the pretext for a left-wing "power grab" to kick conservatives off the social network.

There is a reason for the sudden wagon-circling, argued Mak. It turns out that, contrary to their longstanding claims, right-wing pundits are heavily reliant on Facebook to spread their messaging.

"[One] explanation might be that right-wing media dominates on Facebook and arguably has the most to lose from, say, a government-forced algorithm change, particularly one that de-emphasizes content that elicits extreme emotions," wrote Mak. "Content from Shapiro, Bongino, and their ilk consistently appears in rankings for the best performing posts on any given day. Indeed, while Facebook is one of their favorite punching bags in their protests about political bias, it's also a huge driver of traffic for them ... No wonder these personalities have finally come out swinging for Facebook. The cliché about politics and strange bedfellows is there for a reason."

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