Nancy Pelosi slams Facebook, calling the tech giant 'shameful' and 'very irresponsible'

Scott J. Applewhite/AP

Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi

• House Speaker Nancy Pelosi criticized Facebook on Thursday, highlighting brewing concerns over the social media giant's size and influence as well as its impact on election interference.
• During a press conference, Pelosi called Facebook's behavior "shameful" and accused it of acting in an "irresponsible" way.
• Facebook is under scrutiny for its handling of privacy and its role spreading misinformation ahead of the 2016 elections.
• Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi criticized Facebook during a press conference on Thursday, calling the company's behavior "shameful" and accusing the tech giant of acting in an "irresponsible" manner. The comments come as Facebook has been embroiled in several controversies over the past few years regarding digital privacy, election interference, and antitrust regulation among other issues.

Pelosi, who represents San Francisco, where Facebook has offices, was responding to a question about whether she believes technology executives like Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg hold too much power, reigniting ongoing concerns about the influence of large tech firms.

"The Facebook business model is strictly to make money," she said. "They don't care about the impact on children, they don't care about truth. They don't care about where this is all coming from."

Facebook has been under increased scrutiny in recent years over privacy and security-related issues, potentially anticompetitive business practices, its role in enabling Russian interference in the 2016 election, and its stance on free speech and content moderation. For example, Facebook's decision not to fact-check political ads recently resulted in backlash from both Facebook's own employees and politicians such as Senator Elizabeth Warren and Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.

In her response during the press conference on Thursday, Pelosi specifically called out the thousands of fake ads paid for by Russian parties that ran on Facebook leading up to the 2016 presidential election.

"They didn't even check on the money from Russia in the last election," Pelosi said. "They never even thought they should. So they have been very irresponsible."

She also said Facebook has indicated that it intends "to be accomplices for misleading the American people."

Pelosi's comments underscore concerns that have been simmering amongst lawmakers and regulators over the past year over whether or not the size and scope of companies like Facebook have enabled them to become too powerful. Warren in particular has been a vocal advocate of regulating large tech firms, as she proposed a sweeping plan last March to break up big tech companies and roll back certain acquisitions, such as Facebook's purchases of WhatsApp and Instagram.

Zuckerberg has said in the past that he's in support of regulation, proposing in aWashington Post op-ed from last March that the internet should be regulated when it comes to harmful content, election integrity, and data profitability.

See the video below to view Pelosi's full response.

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