ABOUT FAITH & FREEDOM

Wednesday, August 28, 2024

Zuckerberg Apologizes?


Mark Zuckerberg, CEO of Meta, the parent company that owns Facebook, sent a letter to Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH), Chair of the House Judiciary Committee, on Monday acknowledging that Meta censored Americans at the behest of the Biden-Harris administration and throttled the Hunter Biden laptop story ahead of the 2020 election. 

While the news likely doesn't come as a terrible surprise to most of us, Zuck's forthright acknowledgment — and seeming expression of regret — is fascinating. 

What's this all about?  

Be informed, not misled.

The "letter" is only two pages, but here are a couple of key passages:

In 2021, senior officials from the Biden Administration, including the White House, repeatedly pressured our teams for months to censor certain COVID-19 content, including humor and satire, and expressed a lot of frustration with our teams when we didn’t agree. Ultimately, it was our decision whether or not to take content down, and we own our decisions, including COVID-19-related changes we made to our enforcement in the wake of this pressure. I believe the government pressure was wrong, and I regret that we were not more outspoken about it. I also think we made some choices that, with the benefit of hindsight and new information, we wouldn’t make today. Like I said to our teams at the time, I feel strongly that we should not compromise our content standards due to pressure from the Administration in either direction – and we are ready to push back if something like this happens again. 

In a separate situation, the FBI warned us about a potential Russian disinformation operation about the Biden family and Burisma in the lead up to the 2020 election. That fall, when we saw a New York Post story reporting on corruption allegations involving then-Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden’s family, we sent that story to fact-checkers for review and temporarily demoted it while waiting for a reply. It’s been made clear that the reporting was not Russian disinformation, and in retrospect, we shouldn’t have demoted the story. We’ve changed our policies and processes to make sure this doesn’t happen again – for instance, we no longer temporarily demote things in the US while waiting for fat checkers. 

Zuckerberg also addressed the 2020 use of "Zuckerbucks," which he deemed resources designed to assist with election infrastructure. 

Still, despite the analyses I’ve seen showing otherwise, I know that some people believe this work benefited one party over the other. My goal is to be neutral and not play a role one way or another – or even appear to be playing a role. So I don’t plan on making a similar contribution this cycle.

abc

Brandon Morse is asking, "So why is Zuck suddenly filled with regret and remorse?"

He answers his own question. And I agree completely.

I think it's because Zuckerberg probably sees something many of us don't. As the owner of Facebook and Instagram, two major social media platforms, he's likely watching as pro-Trump posts dominate. Historically, right-leaning material tends to dominate these two platforms, and it's my guess that Zuckerberg has noticed a rapid upswing in Republican-friendly content in the last few months. 

Meta is a massive data collector, so if Zuckerberg is coming hat in hand to Jim Jordan to apologize for wrongs done to the people in the name of the Democrats... something is up. 

I'm thinking Zuck is pretty positive Donald Trump is going to win the 2024 election. 

The one thing I don't think is happening is that Zuckerberg is having a change of heart and is suddenly a free-speech advocate or even a budding Republican himself in the lane of Elon Musk. 

Historically, Zuckerberg is a very, very shrewd businessman who isn't afraid to put his company first above all else. He is incredibly aggressive when it comes to knocking out or acquiring his competition, and some of the things he's been noted to say in the past have shown a man capable of apathy, or sometimes even disdain, for people, including those who use his platform. 

So, Zuck suddenly having an Ebenezer Scrooge moment and becoming a good soul after a "come to Jesus moment" probably isn't likely. From where I'm sitting, this looks like Zuck is seeing dark clouds and knows a storm is coming, and he'd love to be protected from it by getting a little friendly with the Republicans and tattling on the Democrats. 

Among a media that is constantly hyping up Harris and forecasting a win for the Democrat Party, this moment with Zuckerberg is heavily indicative of the opposite. If he saw the Democrats being victorious, I'm pretty sure we wouldn't have this moment from him at all. 

We live in an age of deception.

Most of us can see through Zuckerberg's self-serving antics. But do we see the deception in our culture, sometimes even in the Church?

Dr. Wayne Edwards has written about how deception is undermining the faith in some of our Christian churches.  

The Bible repeatedly warns believers to be aware of those who seek to deceive us spiritually. In Matthew 7:15, Jesus said, “Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravenous wolves” (NKJV).

In 2 Corinthians 11:13-15, the Apostle Paul said, “For such are false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves into apostles of Christ. And no wonder! For Satan himself transforms himself into an angel of light. Therefore, it is no great thing if his ministers also transform themselves into ministers of righteousness.” 

So, while Satan has legions of demons in the world luring us away from the truth, he also has ministers of deception preaching in churches and teaching in seminaries. More often than not, these deceivers even appear to be very religious, winsome, sincere, and devoted to God.

In 1 Timothy 4:1-2, the Apostle Paul said, “Now the Spirit expressly says that in latter times some will depart from the faith, giving heed to deceiving spirits and doctrines of demons, speaking lies in hypocrisy, having their own conscience seared with a hot iron.” 

This departure from the faith is called apostasy—the deliberate rejection of the truth of God’s Word and the full acceptance of Satan’s lie–a position from which there is no return. Apostates abandon their faith in Jesus Christ because worldly attractions win their attention, and voices other than the Savior’s voice convince them that the broad path leads to salvation.

These warnings were not written for unbelievers but for those who have professed their faith in Jesus Christ as their Savior to remind us how easy it is to fall for the less-convicting, easy-believism lies of the evil one. His goal is to deflect us from the daily disciplines of discipleship and prevent progress toward spiritual maturity. 

So, deceitful spirits attract us with some unique religious fad and offer a different gospel message (or a new messenger). One level of deception leads to another until we are completely captured in Satan’s web of deceit. If left unchecked, this leads to apostasy. 

In Ephesians 6:12, the Apostle Paul described this as “the darkness of this age.” Having rejected the true gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ and suppressed the truth about God from their hearers, they became futile in their thoughts, and their foolish hearts were darkened. Professing to be wise, they became fools, and changed the glory of the incorruptible God into an image made like corruptible man (Romans 1:21-23). Like Nimrod, they formed their own concept of God and designed their own way to make themselves acceptable to Him. 

Takeaway

How can a strong, unsuspecting Christian allow Satan to deceive their heart so deeply? 

  • Refuse to learn the truth.
  • Avoid reading the Word. 
  • Stay away from church. 
  • Reject the whole truth. 
  • Justify your sinful habits. 
How can a Christian remain strong in the faith?
  • Seek the Truth of God's Word.
  • Read the Word every day.
  • Go to a Church that teaches and preaches the Bible.
  • Embrace the whole Truth.
  • Repent of your sins.

Be Informed. Be Discerning. Be Vigilant. Be Engaged. Be Faithful. Be Prayerful. VOTE.