Regarding “Facebook discloses malicious campaigns” (Business, Oct. 22): It shows inconsistency and bias that Facebook would take down a Russian state-backed disinformation campaign, but they would run President Trump’s 30-second video ad (the same ad was declined by CNN and NBCU), which falsely stated that former Vice President Joe Biden committed corrupt acts. Also, during Mark Zuckerberg’s Georgetown University’s speech with his full-throated defense of free expression, how would Zuckerberg have responded if someone in his audience at Georgetown University’s Gaston Hall had shouted “Fire!” in that crowded theater? Would he support that free expression of a lie, just as he supports the free expression of the lies in Trump’s Facebook ad? The First Amendment says “freedom of speech,” but it does not say “complete unfettered freedom” of speech, which means we are expected to exercise responsibility, and no one more so than the people who control the mass media of which Facebook is part.
Curtis Panasuk, Santa Cruz
Note from KBJ: Who determines what is true and what is false, Curtis? You? How about me?
