Glenn Beck defends Facebook and scolds conservatives for demanding diversity

Glenn Beck isn't impressed with recent conservative criticism of Facebook. In the wake of the company's much-watched meeting with conservative media figures, the television and radio host posted a lengthy essay on Medium applauding Facebook's efforts to remain impartial and criticizing his colleagues in conservative media for attacking the company.

"Walking out of the meeting, I was convinced that Facebook is behaving appropriately and trying to do the right thing," Beck wrote in the post. "In my opinion, there is no evidence of a top-down initiative to silence conservative voices." The claim echoes previous statements from Mark Zuckerberg that there was no evidence that Facebook employees had suppressed conservative news.

Not everyone agrees with Beck and Zuckerberg. Last week, the Senate Commerce Committee opened an investigation into the allegations of bias in the Trending Topics board, which originated with an earlier Gizmodo report. "Any attempt by a neutral and inclusive social media platform to censor or manipulate political discussion is an abuse of trust and inconsistent with the values of an open Internet," said Senator John Thune (R-SD) in a statement.

In a particularly unexpected turn, Beck compared those concerns to the recent outcry over lack of diversity at the Academy Awards. "When did conservatives start demanding quotas AND diversity training AND less people from Ivy League Colleges," Beck wrote. "What happened to us? When did we become them? When did we become the people who demand the Oscars add black actors based on race?"

• SourceGlenn Beck (Medium)
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