US and British leaders criticize Facebook's stand on Lab Leak Theory

Washington/London – Facebook announced that the stories linked to the accusation that the Coronavirus originated in a laboratory at Wuhan, in China, can be posted on Facebook. Leaders from the United States and the United Kingdom have criticized that this turnabout in the Facebook stand only shows its arrogant nature. Leading British newspaper Daily Mail pointed to the sudden change in the stand of the leading US media, along with Facebook, while reporting the development.

In February, only three months ago, Facebook had adopted a hostile stance towards the Lab Leak Theory. Facebook had warned that posts claiming that Coronavirus is a manmade virus and a specific country or government created the pandemic will be removed from the Facebook website. On Wednesday, President Biden ordered the US investigation agencies to expedite the investigation into the origin of the Coronavirus pandemic and submit a report in 90 days. Within 24 hours of this announcement, Facebook announced that posts related to the Lab Leak Theory could be posted on the Facebook Website.

While firing a salvo of criticism at the Facebook announcement, British lawmaker Bob Seely said that it must be noted that the dangerous and ugly side of a big-tech company like Facebook has been exposed. Seely also claimed that the Facebook act demonstrates that commercial interests are more important than the commitment towards democracy. The British lawmaker also retorted that Facebook must have realized that censoring individual posts is not their job.

US Congressman Josh Hawley expressed regret that the arrogance shown by Facebook regarding Coronavirus was shocking. Diana Harshbarger, US Representative, criticized Facebook, saying, ‘This is an ideal example of how the big-tech companies are crushing the right of expression. The important basic question is, why did Facebook ban the posts regarding Coronavirus? It is necessary to get the answer to this question.’

Iain Duncan Smith, a senior leader of the ruling party in the United Kingdom, showered intense criticism, saying that his example is how social media companies can cross the limits of government rights. At the same time, he pointed out that this was the real issue. Parliamentarian Peter Bone even mentioned the statements of former US President Donald Trump. Bone warned that the thing said by a liberal group is correct, and if Trump said the same thing, it is a foolish stand.

Former US President Donald Trump was the first to accuse that the origin of the Coronavirus pandemic was in the laboratory at Wuhan, in China. He consistently referred to Coronavirus as Wuhan Virus, maintaining the stand that China was behind the pandemic. But the US media had criticized Trump, accusing him of irresponsible statements.