Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez endorsed Bernie Sanders at the Vermont Senator’s massive comeback rally this weekend, as The Inquisitr reported. According to the progressive firebrand, Sanders’ recent health scare pushed her to take the leap and make the endorsement, claiming it would be “dishonest” for her to avoid throwing her support behind Sanders as the Democratic primary continues.
Ocasio-Cortez also used her appearance at the rally to attack Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg, per Newsweek .
“The future, and our future, is in public systems, and it’s in publicly owned systems, because we need to take power over our lives again. I don’t know about you, but I don’t want Mark Zuckerberg making decisions over my life.”
The 30-year-old congresswoman appears to be attacking what she believes is Facebook’s disproportionate influence over politics. The comment comes not long after Zuckerberg made an address at Georgetown University in which he defended Facebook’s policy not to police political ads on the platform.
“I don’t think it’s right for platforms to censor politicians or the news in a democracy,” Zuckerberg said. “And we’re not an outlier here. The other major internet platforms and the vast majority of media also run these same ads.”
Zuckerberg’s comments were delivered after platforms like Facebook and Twitter received criticism from people on the right for allegedly censoring conservatives.
Per Vox , publishers ?— like The New York Times or Fox News ?— don’t need to host content with which they don’t agree. However, they are not protected under Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act from being sued for the content they host. Conversely, platforms — such as a cellphone network provider — are protected under Section 230 but leave it to the public to choose what content with which to engage.
Zuckerberg’s approach appears to be part of an effort to ensure that Facebook remains a “neutral public forum.” Texas Senator Ted Cruz previously questioned Zuckerberg at a hearing if he believed Facebook was such a forum, highlighting that this is the “predicate for Section 230 immunity under the Communications Decency Act of 1996 (CDA).”
“People should decide what is credible, not tech companies.”
Mark Zuckerberg said Facebook shouldn’t censor politicians pic.twitter.com/JeWxvks7tA
— Bloomberg Quicktake (@Quicktake) October 19, 2019
As for Ocasio-Cortez, she wasn’t the only prominent figure to endorse Sanders at his rally. Filmmaker Michael Moore also endorsed Sanders at the massive event. He previously endorsed Sanders in 2016 over Hillary Clinton and first endorsed him back in 1990 to help him with a seat in the House of Representatives.
Sanders also received an official endorsement from Re. Ilhan Omar, who is a member of “The Squad” along with Rep. Rashida Tlaib and Rep. Ayanna Pressley.
