The Manipulators

by Peter J. Hasson

  What made social media attractive to conservatives in the first place was that it offered a way to get around the liberal cultural establishment, which otherwise dominates the national conversation. During the healthcare debate, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer fed television talk show host Jimmy Kimmel Democratic talking points, which Kimmel then parroted to his audience. Celebrities relish the chance to turn award shows into left-wing political rallies. Even sports commentators push gun control on-air.2 The right doesn’t have that range of cultural influence. What they had on social media was a single level playing field, where they could share their ideas. That’s changing—and changing quickly—but conservatives still have a significant voice there.

  Facebook, Google, and Twitter are profit-driven companies that care deeply about their public image. Their executives bend over backwards to appease liberal activists and journalists in part because they agree with them, and in part because they fear them. Until they fear conservatives just as much—and fear that the censoring of conservative viewpoints will cost them money—they will continue to do the work of the left—work that is directed at the end of free speech. Those are the stakes, and why conservatives must win.

  Reach Peter J. Hasson at PeterJHasson@protonmail.com

  Acknowledgments

  Without the unconditional encouragement and support of my parents, Seamus and Mary Hasson, this book—indeed, my entire writing career—never would have been possible.

  My six siblings and two siblings-in-law have also shaped me into the person and writer I am today, and I’ll always be grateful for each one of them. I especially owe thanks to my older brother James, who read the earliest versions of this book and whose advice was crucial in making it sharper and more focused.

  My fiancée Mairin is my rock and a constant source of joy in my life—and that was especially true throughout the often-grueling process of writing a book. I can’t thank her enough for her love and support—and for the literal gallon of buffalo chicken dip she made for me while I was holed up in my apartment finishing the manuscript.

  My best friend Tommy let me bounce ideas off him and reviewed my work throughout this entire process. He’s the man.

  The wonderful folks at Regnery Publishing believed in this project from the start over two years ago and helped make it better every step of the way.

  I also owe thanks to Scott Niklason, Patrick Ryland, Dr. James Krueger, and Andrew Zwerneman, my high school Humane Letters teachers, for my early formation, and Rudy Bush, my journalism professor at the University of Dallas, who taught me the nuts and bolts of investigative reporting.

  Last, but most important, thanks be to God, through whom all things are possible, and without whom, nothing is.

  About the Author

  PHOTO BY CLARE LOCOCO

  PETER J. HASSON is a senior investigative reporter at the Daily Caller News Foundation. His work has been featured in many other publications, including The Federalist, The Daily Signal, and the National Interest. He is also a frequent commentator on radio and television and an advisory board member for Human Coalition Action. A graduate of the University of Dallas, he divides his time between Texas and Washington, D.C.

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  Notes

  Chapter One: The Establishment vs. Free Speech

  1. Matt Drudge, “Speech to the National Press Club on Media and the Internet,” American Rhetoric Online Speech Bank, June 2, 1998, https://www.americanrhetoric.com/speeches/mattdrugdenationalpressclub.htm.

  2. “2016 Richard S. Salant Lecture on Freedom of the Press,” Audio & Video, Harvard Kennedy School, https://shorensteincenter.org/jeffrey-rosen-future-of-free-speech-in-a-digital-world/.

  3. Catherine Rampell, “Liberal Intolerance Is on the Rise on America’s College Campuses,” Washington Post, February 11, 2016, https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/liberal-but-not-tolerant-on-the-nations-college-campuses/2016/02/11/0f79e8e8-d101-11e5-88cd-753e80cd29ad_story.html?noredirect=on&utm_term=.cc80c8bfa429.

  4. Christopher Ingraham, “The Dramatic Shift among College Professors That’s Hurting Students’ Education,” Washington Post, January 11, 2016, https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2016/01/11/the-dramatic-shift-among-college-professors-thats-hurting-students-education/?noredirect=on&utm_term=.93a840dd674a.

  5. Bradford Richardson, “Democratic Professors Outnumber Republicans 10 to 1, Study Shows,” Washington Times, April 26, 2018, https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2018/apr/26/democratic-professors-outnumber-republicans-10-to-/.

  6. Lance Izumi, “Why Are Teachers Mostly Liberal?” Pacific Research Institute, April 3, 2019, https://www.pacificresearch.org/why-are-teachers-mostly-liberal/.

  7. Hadas Gold, “Survey: 7 Percent of Reporters Identify as Republican,” Politico, May 6, 2014, https://www.politico.com/blogs/media/2014/05/survey-7-percent-of-reporters-identify-as-republican-188053.

  8. Eric Wemple, “Dear Mainstream Media, Why So Liberal?” Washington Post, January 27, 2017, https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/erik-wemple/wp/2017/01/27/dear-mainstream-media-why-so-liberal/?noredirect=on&utm_term=.6fa6aa24ba23.

  9. Kirsten Powers, The Silencing: How the Left Is Killing Free Speech (Washington. DC: Regnery, 2015), 70.

  10. Andrew Sullivan, “Is Intersectionality a Religion?” New York Magazine, March 10, 2017, http://nymag.com/intelligencer/2017/03/is-intersectionality-a-religion.html.

  11. Jennifer Brett, “New York Mayor Bill de Blasio Calls for Chick-fil-A Boycott,” Atlanta Buzz Blog, https://www.ajc.com/blog/buzz/new-york-mayor-bill-blasio-calls-for-chick-fil-boycott/KbXzNqHpJUoKsCWgNRgkTK/.

  12. Ashley Feinberg, “Leak: The Atlantic Had a Meeting about Kevin Williamson. It Was a Liberal Self-Reckoning,” HuffPost, May 3, 2018, https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/leak-the-atlantic-had-a-meeting-about-kevin-williamson-it-was-a-liberal-self-reckoning_us_5ac7a3abe4b0337ad1e7b4df.

  13. Rachel Lu, “Why Conservatives Don’t Become Professors,” National Review, June 2, 2016, https://www.nationalreview.com/2016/06/conservative-professors-academia-liberal-nicholas-kristof/.

  14. Stanley Kurtz, “Year of the Shutdown: It Was Worse Than You Think,” National Review, May 31, 2017, https://www.nationalreview.com/corner/year-shout-down-worse-you-think-campus-free-speech/.

  15. Peter Beinart, “A Violent Attack on Free Speech at Middlebury,” The Atlantic, March 6, 2017, https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2017/03/middlebury-free-speech-violence/518667/.

  16. Peter Hasson, “Seattle City Council Candidate Drops Out of Race, Citing Harassment of His Wife,” Daily Caller, November 14, 2018, https://dailycaller.com/2018/11/14/seattle-council-chris-rufo-wife-harrassment/.

  17. James Antle, “Violence against Trump Supporters: Who Is to Blame,” National Interest, June 3, 2016, https://nationalinterest.org/feature/violence-against-trump-supporters-who-blame-16464.

  18. PragerU, “War on Boys,” YouTube, May 19, 2014, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OFpYj0E-yb4.

  19. Lesley Stahl, “Facebook ‘Embeds,’ Russia and the Trump Campaign’s Secret Weapon,” CBS News, June 10, 2018, https://www.cbsnews.com/news/facebook-embeds-russia-and-the-trump-campaigns-secret-weapon-60-minutes/.

  20. Reid Wilson, “Final Newspaper Endorsement Count: Clinton 57, Trump 2,” The Hill, November 6, 2016, https://thehill.com/blogs/ballot-box/presidential-races/304606-final-newspaper-endorsement-count-clinton-57-trump-2.

  Chapter Two: Rigged

  1. Aaron Smith, Monica Anderson, “Use of Different Online Platforms by Demographic Groups,” Internet and Technology, Pew Research Center, March 1, 2018, http://www.pewinternet.org/2018/03/01/social-media-use-2018-appendix-a-detailed-table/.

  2. Elisa Shearer, Jeffrey Gottfried, “News Use Across Social Media Platforms 2017,” Journalism and Media, Pew Research Center, September 7, 2017, http://www.journalism.org/2017/09/07/news-use-across-social-media-platforms-2017/.

  3. John Shinal, “Mark Zuckerberg: Facebook Can Pla
y a Role That Churches and Little League Once Filled,” CNBC, June 26, 2017, https://www.cnbc.com/2017/06/26/mark-zuckerberg-compares-facebook-to-church-little-league.html.

  4. Smith, Anderson, “Use of Different Online Platforms.”

  5. Laura Sydell, “On Its 7th Birthday, Is Twitter Still the ‘Free Speech Party,’ ” All Tech Considered, NPR.org, March 21, 2013, https://www.npr.org/sections/alltechconsidered/2013/03/21/174858681/on-its-7th-birthday-is-twitter-still-the-free-speech-party.

  6. Josh Halliday, “Twitter’s Tony Wang: ‘We Are the Free Speech Wing of the Free Speech Party,’ ” The Guardian, March 22, 2012, https://www.theguardian.com/media/2012/mar/22/twitter-tony-wang-free-speech.

  7. Noam Cohen, “The Truth about Facebook’s Fake Quest To Connect the World,” Wired.com, December 3, 2018, https://www.wired.com/story/facebook-mark-zuckerberg-fake-quest-to-connect-the-world/.

  8. Allum Bokhari, “The Good Censor-GOOGLE LEAK,” Scribd.com, https://www.scribd.com/document/390521673/The-Good-Censor-GOOGLE-LEAK.

  9. Bokhari, “The Good Censor”

  10. Alyssa Newcomb, “Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey on Alex Jones, Election Security and Regrets,” NBC News, August 15, 2018, https://www.nbcnews.com/tech/tech-news/twitter-ceo-jack-dorsey-alex-jones-election-security-regrets-n900931.

  11. “Transcript of Mark Zuckerberg’s Senate Hearing,” The Switch, Washington Post, April 10, 2018, https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-switch/wp/2018/04/10/transcript-of-mark-zuckerbergs-senate-hearing/?noredirect=on&utm_term=.a584ff40a471.

  12. Farai Chideya, “Nearly All of Silicon Valley’s Political Dollars Are Going to Hillary Clinton,” FiveThirtyEight, October 25, 2016, https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/nearly-all-of-silicon-valleys-political-dollars-are-going-to-hillary-clinton/.

  13. Rachel Stoltzfoos, “19 Insane Tidbits from James Damore’s Lawsuit about Google Office Environment,” The Federalist, January 10, 2018, https://thefederalist.com/2018/01/10/19-insane-tidbits-james-damores-lawsuit-googles-office-environment/.

  14. “New Lincoln Network Survey Shows Conservatives Feel Uncomfortable in Silicon Valley Workplaces,” Bold, February 2, 2018, https://bold.global/bold-staff/2018/02/02/new-lincoln-network-survey-shows-conservatives-feel-uncomfortable-silicon-valley-workplaces/.

  15. Mike Wacker, “Former Google Engineer: How Google Discriminates against Conservatives,” Daily Caller, August 19, 2019, https://dailycaller.com/2019/08/19/wacker-google-discriminates/.

  16. Peter Hasson, “Exclusive: Facebook, Amazon, Google and Twitter, All Work with Left-Wing SPLC,” Daily Caller, June 6, 2018, http://dailycaller.com/2018/06/06/splc-partner-google-facebook-amazon/.

  17. “SPLC Statement on Dr. Ben Carson,” Southern Poverty Law Center, February 11, 2015, https://www.splcenter.org/sites/default/files/d6_legacy_files/downloads/publication/splc_statement_carson_feb2015.pdf.

  18. Rich Lowry, “The SPLC Designates Itself,” National Review, March 19, 2019, https://www.nationalreview.com/2019/03/southern-poverty-law-center-weaponized-political-correctness/.

  19. Marc Thiessen, “The Southern Poverty Law Center Has Lost All Credibility,” Washington Post, June 21, 2018, https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/the-southern-poverty-law-center-has-lost-all-credibility/2018/06/21/22ab7d60-756d-11e8-9780-b1dd6a09b549_story.html.

  20. Peter Hasson, “Exclusive: YouTube Secretly Using SPLC To Police Videos,” Daily Caller, February 27, 2018, http://dailycaller.com/2018/02/27/google-youtube-southern-poverty-law-center-censorship/.

  21. Peter Hasson, “SPLC Confirms They’re Helping Police Videos on YouTube,” Daily Caller, March 1, 2018, http://dailycaller.com/2018/03/01/splc-youtube-google-trusted-flaggers/.

  22. Joe Schoffstall, “Full David Brock Confidential Memo on Fighting Trump,” Scribd, https://www.scribd.com/document/337535680/Full-David-Brock-Confidential-Memo-On-Fighting-Trump#from_embed.

  Chapter Three: Facebook

  1. Andrew Perrin, Monica Anderson, “Share of U.S. Adults Using Social Media, Including Facebook, Is Mostly Unchanged since 2018,” Pew Research Center, April 10, 2019, https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2019/04/10/share-of-u-s-adults-using-social-media-including-facebook-is-mostly-unchanged-since-2018/.

  2. Elisa Shearer, Katerina Eva Matsa, “News Use Across Social Media Platforms 2018,” Pew Research Center, September 10, 2018, http://www.journalism.org/2018/09/10/news-use-across-social-media-platforms-2018/.

  3. Adam Kramer, Jamie Guillory, and Jeffrey Hancock, “Experimental Evidence of Massive-Scale Emotional Contagion through Social Networks,” Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, June 17, 2014, https://www.pnas.org/content/111/24/8788.full.

  4. Robert Booth, “Facebook Reveals News Feed Experiment To Control Emotions,” The Guardian, June 29, 2019, https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2014/jun/29/facebook-users-emotions-news-feeds.

  5. Gail Sullivan, “Sheryl Sandberg Not Sorry for Facebook Mood Manipulation Study,” Washington Post, July 3, 2014, https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp/2014/07/03/sheryl-sandberg-not-sorry-for-facebook-mood-manipulation-study/?noredirect=on&utm_term=.61c50fd5dd6f.

  6. R. Jai Krishna, “Sandberg: Facebook Study Was ‘Poorly Communicated,’ ” Wall Street Journal, July 2, 2014, https://blogs.wsj.com/digits/2014/07/02/facebooks-sandberg-apologizes-for-news-feed-experiment/?mod=LS1.

  7. Michael Nunez, “Former Facebook Workers: We Routinely Suppressed Conservative News,” Gizmodo, May 9, 2016, https://gizmodo.com/former-facebook-workers-we-routinely-suppressed-conser-1775461006.

  8. Nunez, “Former Facebook Workers.”

  9. Nunez, “Former Facebook Workers.”

  10. Kate Conger, Sheera Frenkel, “Dozens at Facebook Unite To Challenge Its ‘Intolerant’ Liberal Culture,” New York Times, August 28, 2018, https://www.nytimes.com/2018/08/28/technology/inside-facebook-employees-political-bias.html.

  11. Tyler Durden, “Conservative Facebook Employee Who Wrote Memo on ‘Intolerant’ Liberals Quits,” ZeroHedge.com, October 11, 2018, https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2018-10-11/conservative-facebook-employee-who-wrote-memo-intolerant-liberals-quits.

  12. Casey Newton, “Facebook Employees Argued Trump’s Posts Should Be Banned as Hate Speech,” The Verge, October 21, 2016, https://www.theverge.com/2016/10/21/13361908/facebook-employees-trump-ban-hate-speech.

  13. Kirsten Grind and Keach Hagey, “Why Did Facebook Fire a Top Executive? Hint: It Had Something To Do with Trump,” Wall Street Journal, November 11, 2018, https://www.wsj.com/articles/why-did-facebook-fire-a-top-executive-hint-it-had-something-to-do-with-trump-1541965245.

  14. Ibid.

  15. Ibid.

  16. Julie Zhuo (@Julie Zhuo), “I Woke Up at 4am Last Night and Threw Up. I Woke Up This Morning Feeling Groggy and Leaden. I Resisted Checking Facebook for a Few Hours because I Knew the Posts,” Facebook post, November 9, 2016, https://www.facebook.com/julie/posts/10102669131580713.

  17. Carolyn Everson (@Carolyn Everson), “In My Post Yesterday, I Said We Must Respect the Outcome of the Election and We Need To Begin the Healing Process and Move Forward as a Nation. And I Believe,” Facebook post, November 9, 2019, https://www.facebook.com/carolyn.everson/posts/10153941674160913.

  18. Mike Isaac, “Rifts Break Open at Facebook Over Kavanaugh Hearing,” New York Times, October 4, 2018, https://www.nytimes.com/2018/10/04/technology/facebook-kavanaugh-nomination-kaplan.html.

  19. Peter Hasson, “Leaked Emails Show Facebook Exec Shared Research with Clinton Campaign,” Daily Caller, October 10, 2016, https://dailycaller.com/2016/10/10/leaked-emails-show-facebook-exec-shared-research-with-clinton-campaign/.

  20. Kaitlyn Sullivan (@katersully), “51 People Have Announced Their Support for Kavanaugh. Let’s Hold Them ALL Accountable. (Some Are Even Up for Election Next Month!),” Twitter post, October 5, 2018, https://twitter.com/katersully/status/1048348590953906176.

  21. Mike McIntire, “How a Putin Fan Overseas Pushed Pro-Trump Propaganda to Americans,” New York Times, D
ecember 17, 2016, https://www.nytimes.com/2016/12/17/world/europe/russia-propaganda-elections.html.

  22. Mark Zuckerberg (@Mark Zuckerberg), “I Want To Share Some Thoughts on Facebook and the Election. Our Goal Is To Give Every Person a Voice. We Believe Deeply in People. Assuming That People Understand,” Facebook post, November 12, 2016, https://www.facebook.com/zuck/posts/10103253901916271.

  23. Josh Constine, “Facebook Now Flags and Down-Ranks Fake news with Help from Outside Face Checkers,” TechCrunch.com, December 15, 2016, https://techcrunch.com/2016/12/15/facebook-now-flags-and-down-ranks-fake-news-with-help-from-outside-fact-checkers/.

  24. Brendan Nyhan, “Why Fears of Fake News Are Overhyped,” Gen.Medium.com, February 4, 2019, https://medium.com/s/reasonable-doubt/why-fears-of-fake-news-are-overhyped-2ed9ca0a52c9.

  25. Mark Zuckerberg, “A Blueprint for Content Governance and Enforcement,” Notes, Facebook, November 15, 2016, https://www.facebook.com/notes/mark-zuckerberg/a-blueprint-for-content-governance-and-enforcement/10156443129621634/.

  26. Jonathan Chait, “Will Trump Be Meeting with His Counterpart—or His Handler?” New York Magazine, July 2018, http://nymag.com/intelligencer/2018/07/trump-putin-russia-collusion.html.

  27. Sophie Lucido Johnson, “Talking to My Fiancé about My New Girlfriend,” New York Times, October 12, 2018, https://www.nytimes.com/2018/10/12/style/modern-love-talking-to-my-fiance-about-my-new-girlfriend.html.

  28. Josh Constine, “Facebook Will Change Algorithm To Demote ‘Borderline Content’ That Almost Violates Policies,” TechCrunch.com, November 15, 2018, https://techcrunch.com/2018/11/15/facebook-borderline-content/.