well we have some breaking news and
you're on the air with us
when it happens okay uh we expected this
tonight
now here we go facebook the oversight
board
will uphold the ban on donald trump
your reaction yeah it's it's a sad day
for america it's a sad day for facebook
because i can tell you a number of
members of congress are now looking at
do they break up facebook do they make
sure that they don't have a monopoly
and i can tell you that it is two
different standards one for donald trump
and one for a number of other people
that are on their sites and and
suggesting
that uh more nefarious things than what
the president has been accused of
actually go unnoticed often and so this
is a sad day for america but a saturday
for
uh the the facebooks of the world who
have actually enjoyed a very
wild wild west kind of regulatory
environment
i can tell you that's going to change
the discussion will happen within hours
of this decision on capitol hill just a
few blocks from where i
am and so
let me ask you then about legislation
right because they're
it's you could almost get to bipartisan
legislation but for different reasons
right because for example senator
elizabeth warren wants regulations
uh on big tech and then you have
something like senator hawley who also
feels the same way
they could get to the same place but for
very different reasons could they get to
the same result
and in this congress under president
biden
well i would suggest that it's not going
to be regulation that they look at
from a legislative standpoint this is
going to be a break breakup
of big tech you know when you look at
google and facebook they have more power
over what we read and what we see than
any in the media then
you know we look at very critically at
people
buying tv stations to say that they
shouldn't have a monopoly
and yet google and facebook and youtube
actually control much of what america
sees
whether it's you and i talking right now
and it gets reposted on any of those
platforms
they have the ability to actually raise
that profile or lower it
and so it is time that we break up big
tech
not just regulate them i'm going to read
this okay because here's the case
summary sir the board upheld facebook's
decision
that goes back to january 7 2021 so
that's the day after the riots on the
hill
to restrict then president donald
trump's access to posting content on his
facebook page and instagram account
however it was not appropriate for
facebook to impose the indeterminate and
standardless penalty
of an indefinite suspension i'll come
back to that
facebook's normal penalties include
removing the violating content imposing
a time-bound period of suspension
or permanently disabling the page and
account
what do you think about the move the
president made yesterday with his
own uh way of communicating at a
mar-a-lago
that can be repeated on twitter or
facebook if uh people want to share that
what the same point
not taking comments from um uh
users who would be reading the uh the
videos that he posts on his page
uh and as you think about that they're
not saying
forever um right they're saying that you
have six months
so you you wonder did zuckerberg make a
solomonic decision here
well listen when whether it's six months
or six days
what we see in this decision is really
about chilling
free speech and the the platform that
the president put up yesterday
is just step one of about a four-step
process
to make sure that millions and hundreds
of millions of people actually get to
hear
from their president when you look at
over 74
million people that voted for president
donald trump
and to suggest that that he should not
have a voice
today there may be people on the left
that are applauding that
but what if it it goes and says all
right we're going to make sure that
bernie sanders doesn't have a vote
a voice listen i'm all about making sure
that
everyone who wants to have a voice in
the public square
can do that but we need to have some
standards and
and literally what we're seeing is
they're not able to police themselves
and what they're doing is it's
infringing on constitutional rights
they've gotten too big it's time that
they be broken up
so just this is one thing that i've
gotten from someone here um
they the oversight board upheld the
decision to suspend but they made it
clear that a permanent ban if they're
going to make it permanent that the
company facebook
has to be more clear they have to
provide that clarity and they're
affording the company six months to
provide
that clarity now this particular ban was
specific to
the riot but do you think that private
companies sir
have the right under our constitution to
make
decisions like this
well they do have the right i mean
obviously a platform has the right of
what they
they're able to do but they can't enjoy
the benefits
of of one being a monopoly and two of of
not having any litigation that comes
against them for any type of
discrimination or disparate impact that
may
result from that and so a private
company can do a lot of things but what
they shouldn't have is the protection of
the federal government
which when these platforms were were put
up there was not a content monitor you
had a contract you had something that
you actually did
and what they are finding now is is that
they become the social police
for what is good and right and we've
seen it too many times
where they're taking down posts uh
facebook youtube
where they say well your reach is too
great we need to to moderate that
and and i can tell you that
conservatives
and those progressives will come
together and find some unity on this
particular issue
and you're right for different reasons
but it's a perfect storm that will not
bode well for the facebooks and the
youtubes
and googles of the world quick comment
about the future uh we're all trying to
figure out what the president's going to
do whether or not he's going to run for
office again
all the chatter seems to be that he's
waiting on the midterm results of 2022
and if he can show that he endorses a
lot of candidates and they're successful
in those midterm races
perhaps he would get back in the fight
for 2024.
in the meantime we've got the decision
from facebook don't know when that
decision could be changed if ever
twitter says no way is not going to
happen youtube apparently is still
dangling the possibility of changing or
reversing itself
and your conversations with president
trump where is he today
on his own political future
well i can tell you based on my
conversations with him and i don't work
for the president obviously we speak
very often
it's not necessarily a wait until 2022
summer advising him to do that
i can tell you he's fully engaged now
about taking back the house
and senate in 2022 but really it's about
being fully engaged now
there will be rallies that will happen
very soon the vast majority of americans
want him to throw his hat back in the
ring
and if i had to place a bet on it i
would say that he would do exactly that
based on my conversations with him but
uh
listen what you'll see in the next uh
two to
six weeks is a ramp up of additional
platforms where he's able to communicate
once again and take his message to the
americans
you say rallies when will that happen
yeah
you know i fully there are discussions
now about him actually going back out to
to have rallies and and uh rally america
for what it's all about
america first joe biden is all about
america last
it's about putting forth that contrast
uh we've not seen the last
of donald trump as a campaign how far
along are those discussions to go public
with a rally again
well you know bill i don't normally talk
about my conversations with the
president so i'm not going to get into
into any specifics i can tell you
they're
they're voluminous and we've had a
number of discussions
he and his team will decide when the
best time for that to happen
but i but they're not just idle
conversations they're real
uh discussions about when and where
and is he i'm going to plan to continue
to weigh in on possible candidates for
the 2022 election i know the house
republicans feel like
they're in a good position to be able to
win back the house in 2022.
well we're in a very good position to
win back the house in 2022
part of that is because donald trump
continues to be
loom large in the republican conference
and we saw just the results in texas
just a few days ago where the the trump
endorsed candidate
came in number one in a very large field
but but it's more than that it's the
biden policies that continue to lurch to
the left
that america's they want to make sure
they keep more of their hard
working american taxpayer dollars in
their pocket and joe biden has gone on a
spending spree that
not only will affect their pocketbook
but the uh the pocketbook of all
americans
mark meadows thank you for your time uh
a lot to go through hope you come back
soon okay
we got a lot more on the list great to
be with you thank you very