Fox News contributor Mollie Hemingway was so triggered by the congressional testimony of Facebook whistleblower Frances Haugen, you have to wonder what Hemingway is trying to hide.
A discussion about Haugen's testimony came at the end of Special Report’s “All-Star Panel” Tuesday. Host Shannon Bream played a clip of Haugen saying, “Facebook’s products harm children, stoke division and weaken our democracy.” She also accused the tech giant of choosing “astronomical profits over people.”
The Haugen hearing was unusually bipartisan. But leave it to Fox to make it partisan.
Panelist Guy Benson said, “Facebook has some real serious questions to answer, I think oversight and accountability are both appropriate ends here. However, I do have some questions about how much of this might be politically motivated, and where we start wading into the misinformation wars, that’s where I get a little bit nervous.”
Panelist Harold Ford Jr., a former Democratic congressman, called the hearing “plainspoken" and "stunningly compelling.” He added, “[F]rankly, it puts Facebook on its edges, and the other thing that Facebook has to worry about, this is bipartisan.”
Hemingway was the worst: “There is every reason to be suspicious about this,” she sneered. “This is Democratic information operation. It’s being run by a Democratic P.R. firm, and we already know that tech companies have been colluding with the Democratic party to suppress conservative speech, and that’s what’s happening here. And people need to be on guard about what they’re being asked to do in response to this alleged whistleblower.”
Considering that Hemingway, the senior editor of The Federalist, has repeatedly promoted the Big Lie about the 2020 election as well as COVID disinformation and anti-vaxxism on Fox, it seems quite likely she and her publication have something to lose if there’s a real crackdown onsocial media disinformation.
And, by the way, Hemingway’s accusations about Haugen came from the same place she seems to get her election and pandemic views: the right-wing, conspiracy-theory fever swamps.
But anchor Shannon Bream let Hemingway’s latest conspiracy theory go unchallenged.
You can watch it below, from the October 5, 2021 Special Report.
