Lawless: It Seems “Fundamentally Wrong” Zuckerberg Gets Hauled Before Congress & Nothing Changes
Sunday, October 10, 2021
University of Virginia Political Science Department Chair Jennifer Lawless appeared on GoLocal LIVE where she discussed the latest in national politics - including how in recent years Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg has continued to be brought before Congress to address the company’s actions.
Lawless’ remarks come following scathing reports about the social media giant’s operations, including a whistleblower’s testimony this week claiming the company continued to choose profit over public safety — but Congress has required nothing from Zuckerberg at this time.
“Something seems fundamentally wrong when Mark Zuckerberg continues to get hauled into Congress and there’s no change — and in fact the revelations of the way the company’s behaving suggests it’s getting worse and worse,” said Lawless. “The fact that now with disinformation and conspiracy theories and no real checks, the fact that's having explicitly political implications I think provides incentives for members of Congress to be a little more active and hold the company accountable and try to move forward.”
GET THE LATEST BREAKING NEWS HERE -- SIGN UP FOR GOLOCAL FREE DAILY EBLAST“I think to the average American, something seems wrong when a company like Facebook feels like WhatsApp might be a competitor to they just buy it. Those are the kinds of stories that seem fundamentally wrong to the average citizen,” she added. “Whether the government can do anything about that is a different question.”
Debt Ceiling
Lawless also spoke to Congress voting this week to temporarily raise the debt limit, to cover the U.S. until early December.
"The most important thing to remember is the government almost shut down,” said Lawless. “This was an entirely partisan vote, and all it does is provide funding until December. So in a couple of months there’s going to be an entirely new set of debates, a new set of discussions, a new set of ad hominem attacks and we’ll once again raise the debt ceiling.”
“But my overall analysis is that this is not something that should fall down partisan lines - I mean, this is paying for spending that has already happened; it’s not about spending for programs that have not yet passed or that are part of the Democrats’ future agenda,” she said.
“In fact, here, we’re talking about almost entirely the spending that took place during the Trump Administration — so the fact that Mitch McConnell was able to marshal the number of votes require to ensure that there was cloture and there could be a vote demonstrates that at least the Republican leadership is aware of the fact that you can’t shut down the government over something like this, and that there would be major global economic implications.”
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