The recently constituted board is comprised of activists who’ve compared President Trump to Adolf Hitler, former Obama officials, and hailed efforts to remove President Trump from Twitter as “awesome.”
Facebook describes the board as wielding “judgment over some of the most difficult and significant content decisions.”
The idea for the board itself came from Noah Feldman, the Harvard law professor and Democrat-selected Trump impeachment witness who in 2018 insisted the West “needs Shariah and Islam.”
The overwhelmingly left-leaning composition is just the latest testament to Big Tech’s leftist bias. Whether Facebook and its oversight board are leveraged to influence elections, culture, or political discussion, the oversight board’s purported neutrality and nonpartisanship appears to be a ruse.
THE FACEBOOK ‘OVERSIGHT BOARD’
The individuals listed below serve are the last stand between Facebook’s censor-prone left-wing bias and user’s ability to share content, and it doesn’t bode well for conservatives.
The National Pulse reached out to Facebook for comment, but former Obama campaign and administration staffer Jeffrey Gelman – now a communications manager for Facebook – refused to answer the questions.
1. Afia Asantewaa Asare-Kyei – Program Manager, Open Society Initiative for West Africa
Asare-Kyei, a “critical race feminism” researcher and human rights lawyer, manages the Soros-funded organization’s Equality, Justice and Human Rights (EJHR) Program portfolio.
The West African branch of the New York-based Open Society Justice Initiative whereby the foundation uses “strategic litigation and other legal work” to bring about progressive change. Soros is a major Democratic party and donor frequently branded as a “globalist” – and rightfully so. As The Guardian notes:
“For Soros, the goal of contemporary human existence is to establish a world defined not by sovereign states, but by a global community whose constituents understand that everyone shares an interest in freedom, equality and prosperity. […] Soros truly wants to transform national and international politics and society.”
2. Nighat Dad, Founder, Digital Rights Foundation
Dad is another Soros-linked board member whose Digital Rights Foundation strives to create an internet “where all people, and especially women, are able to exercise their right of expression without being threatened.”
The group boasts a “feminist magazine for womxn and non-binary journalists and writers.”
Dad also sits on Reporters Without Borders’ Information and Democracy Commission, an organization dependent on Soros’s Open Society Institute for funding. She also received the Atlantic Council – a globalist think tank funded by the likes of Soros, CNN, and Facebook – Digital Freedom Award in 2016.
She’s also an outspoken hater of President Trump, tweeting: “God forbid if Trump becomes the president, this will be my last visit to US #TrumpWantsTheWall #Debate” as well as tweeting at Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu: “The world needs to build a wall around you and Trump and never let you both come out. #BanTrump.”
Dad even extolled a Charles Blow’s New York Times op-ed on December 4th, 2016.
While Dad doesn’t specify the exact article, the timing corresponds to an article by Blow entitled Why We Must Not ‘Get Along’ With Donald Trump.
It was one of a “series of scathing articles about Donald J. Trump” as described by the Times where Blow pronounced the president-elect a “fraud and a charlatan,” that his election is the “logical extension of misogyny, racism, privilege, and anti-intellectualism,” and believes it’s “obscene” that Trump will soon lead the American government.
3. András Sajó, University Professor, Central European University
Sajó has been linked to Soros since 1988 and served on the Board of Directors of Soros’ Open Society Justice Initiative from 2001 to 2007. As a European Union Court of Human Rights judge, he played a pivotal role in banning crucifixes from Italian public schools.
Central European University (CEU) itself is also a Soros-linked entity, as the progressive mega-donor and two of his family members are listed as a member of the Board of Trustees. CEU was also a “founding partner” of the Open Society University Network, the primary avenue whereby Soros brings his globalist worldview to universities across the world to the tune of his personal $1 billion endowment for the network.
4. Sudhir Krishnaswamy, Vice Chancellor & Professor of Law, National Law School of India University
Krishnaswamy runs the Centre for Law and Policy Research which focuses on “transgender rights, gender equality, and public health.”
The group is a beneficiary of funds from the pro-abortion group Center for Reproductive Rights which Soros’s Open Society Foundation funnels hundreds of thousands of dollars to.
5. Ronaldo Lemos, Professor, Rio de Janeiro State University’s Law School
Lemos is another Soros-connected individual, serving on the board of directors of the Mozilla Foundation which has collaborated with the Open Society Foundation “to work towards an internet that is built, used, and governed in ways that allow everyone to access it and benefit from its potential.”
How so?
“To support new methods of civic and social participation, lower barriers to engagement, and develop innovative ways to organize for positive change and social justice,” Open Society Foundation’s press release notes.
He also served on the board of Access Now, an organization listing Soros’s foundation as a principal donor.
6. Nicolas Suzor, Professor, School of Law at Queensland University of Technology
Suzor has cast President Trump as equal to Hitler.
He’s also concerned about the threat posed by “ordinary ironic” and ostensibly “racist” internet humor while sharing a link to an article proclaiming that “online fascism is the most dangerous political current in the world today,” and that “we must confront it, urgently.”
“I love this,” he tweeted of a blog entitled ‘Teen Vogue vs Trump; American Vogue vs Hitler’.
The article singles out right-wing users:
“This new style of fascism proselytises online, attempts to “redpill” white men using the plausible deniability afforded by irony, and then immerses recruits in an online movement culture built on memes, pseudoscientific dogma, racial panic and the worst of internet culture.”
He also believes that “Twitter has the power to block the President and they have the legal right to block him.”
While Suzor stops short of imploring Twitter to ban President Trump – concluding it’s “complicated” – his rationale against the social media platform doing so is because “social media platforms heavily criticized for interfering in political processes or even thinking about interfering in political processes.”
Suzor even acknowledges that large social media platforms “already influence politics in a huge way.”
7. Tawakkol Karman, Nobel Peace Prize Laureate
Karman, a Yemeni activist who founded Women Journalists Without Chains, has slammed President Trump for being “racist” in foreign press. In an interview with top Spanish outlet El Pais, when asked if “the arrival of Trump to the White House represents a change” in repsect to Yemen’s ongoing civil war, Karman responded:
“Unfortunately I don’t trust Trump because I generally don’t trust racist people. I do not think that he will become an actor to solve the conflict, he is a person who moves by threats, but he could paralyze the arms trade, for example, or undertake a real diplomatic mobilization.”
8. Pamela Karlan, Professor, Stanford Law School
Karlan was selected by Democrats to serve as a ‘Constitutional Expert’ during President Trump’s House impeachment inquiry.
Speaking to the American Constitution Society in 2006, Karlan proclaimed “we have to seize back the high ground on patriotism and on love of our country, because we have more reason than they do to love America” to a fawning, liberal audience.
She also went on an anti-white tirade: “The rich, pampered, prodigal, sanctimonious, incurious, white, straight sons of the powerful do pretty well everywhere in the world, and they always have. But what about us? Snarky, bisexual, Jewish women who want the freedom to say what we think, read what we want, and love who we do.”
She’s donated 50 times – nearly $13,000 – exclusively to Democrats including Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama, and Elizabeth Warren according to FEC records.
Karlan also used her prominent position at the Judiciary Committee to mock President Trump’s 13-year-old son, Barron.
In a 2017 American Constitution Society panel discussion, Karlan proudly professes her contempt towards the president:
“I came in from the airport yesterday and I got off the bus from Dulles down at L’Enfant Plaza and I walked up to the hotel and as I was walking past what used to be the old post office building and is now Trump hotel… I had to cross the street, of course,” she said.
“Are you staying there?” Neil Siegel, a fellow panelist, asked.
Karlan responded, “God, no! Never!”
Karlan also Obama administration’s Department of Justice and earned a glowing review from The New York Times as a “Legal Leader Committed to Progressive Causes.”
9. Catalina Botero-Marino, Dean, Law School at Universidad de Los Andes
Botero-Marino has insisted the Trump administration demonstrates “authoritarianism,” insisted “Trump’s only interest is Trump,” and has extolled the anti-Trump “resistance” on Twitter. Most egregiously, she responded to a verified Twitter user imploring “Let’s report Trump’s abusive behavior: Incite hatred, aggression and violence against the press with impunity #ReportTrumpTweet” by praising his efforts as “awesome.”
“Trump’s trill is a disgrace to the United States and an affront to the most elementary principles of the Rule of Law,” she added.
10. Maina Kiai, Director, Human Rights Watch Global Alliances and Partnerships
The former United Nations Special Rapporteur on freedom of peaceful assembly and association is now partnered with the Soros-funded Human Rights Watch, which has insisted the U.S. “continued to move backward on human rights at home and abroad in the second year of President Donald Trump’s administration.”
He stated on a podcast: “I think that Donald Trump is the jewel in the crown of the far right, fascist, xenophobic, right-wing groups that exist.”
The New York Times op-ed contributor also believes that President Trump’s “actions” are so egregious that they “warrant a general national strike.”
He’s even hailed the left-wing American Civil Liberties Union for undermining President Trump’s ability to implement policies such as his 2017 travel ban.
11. Julie Owono, Executive Director, Internet Sans Frontières
Owono is a former contributor at Al Jazeera – an outlet funded by the Qatari government – intent on a “multicultural” France and opposed to the electoral victories of right-wing parties in the country.
Concerning, President Trump, she’s called government workers carrying out his policies “inhumane” and has a record of using technology companies and social media platforms to advance social and political change.
She implored companies including Facebook, Twitter, and Google to subvert the implementation of President Trump’s 2017 travel ban by sharing a petition entitled “Tell tech firms: Don’t help Trump build a Muslim registry!” on Twitter.
She’s also tweeted anti-Trump drivel including “I wish four years of Trump could go as fast” as a billion years:
She’s even shared articles insisting she’d rather be a “pretentious elite” than a “populist”:
12. Alan Rusbridger, Principal, Lady Margaret Hall Oxford
The former editor-in-chief of the far-left Guardian newspaper (1995 to 2015) tweeted a praying emoji and a fingers-crossed emoji alongside an article describing how an “obstruction of justice case may be shaping up against Trump”:
He also slammed President Trump by sharing excerpts from Guardian articles including: “Donald Trump doesn’t run the US gov’t. He doesn’t manage anything. He doesn’t organize anyone. He doesn’t administer or supervise. He doesn’t read memos. He hates meetings. His White House is in perpetual chaos”
Rusbridger – a well known far left campaigner in the United Kingdom – also serves on the board of directors of the Committee to Protect Journalists, granted $750,000 from Soros’s Open Society Foundation in 2018.
13. Jamal Greene, Professor, Columbia Law School
A former aide to Democratic Senator and 2020 presidential hopeful Kamala Harris, Greene is no fan of the president, insisting “some of Trump’s qualities are world historic”and that his “unfitness for office” is “overdetermined.”
He’s also donated nine times to exclusively Democratic candidates including Elizabeth Warren and Barack Obama according to FEC records.
He appears to conflate calling his children “Trump” as an “effective disciplinary tool”:
As the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) commissioner noted on May 7th, Greene has fantasized about Trump getting shot, called Trump’s election an unacceptable outcome & a failure of American politics, and pressed for impeachment.
While Greene is listed as a Federalist Society contributor, the conservative legal society notes “a person’s appearance on this list does not imply any other endorsement or relationship between the person and the Federalist Society.”
Greene clerked for Democratic Judge Guido Calabresi on the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals along with conservative Justice John Paul Stevens on the U.S. Supreme court.
14. Endy Bayuni, Senior Editor and Board Member, The Jakarta Post
For the most part, Bayuni focuses on Indonesian affairs and abstains from commentary on U.S. politics.
However, he has indicated that he is not a fan of President Trump, commenting:
“Yes, America can be great once again. But probably it would be asking too much from the new elected president.”
He also believes that the populist Brexit victory is “another product of a democratic exercise in the Western world that has gone wrong.”
15. Helle Thorning-Schmidt, Former Prime Minister, Denmark
HELLE THORNING-SCHMIDT, DENMARK
Thorning-Schmidt led the left-wing party Social Democrats – a member of the Party of European Socialists – from 2005 to 2015, culminating in her Prime Ministership from 2011 to 2015. She led a center-left coalition government comprised of Social Democrats, the Social Liberal Party and the Socialist People’s Party. She came into office promising to raise taxes on Denmark’s wealthiest citizens, increase social spending, and increase immigration.
Thorning-Schmidt is also a climate change activist who has slammed President Trump for his different stance on the issue.
She is married to British leftist politician Stephen Kinnock, the son of former UK Labour Party leader Neil Kinnock, whose speech Joe Biden plagiarized in 1987 when Biden first ran for president. Biden had to drop from the race after the plagiarism was revealed.
16. Katherine Chen, Professor, National Chengchi University
Chen appears to abstain from her own commentary on U.S. politics but frequently uses her Twitter to share progressive policies, anti-Trump content, and express support for Democrats.
She has retweeted former presidential candidate Mike Bloomberg, who ran the most expensive and most unsuccessful presidential campaign in American political history.
She’s retweeted Stephen King, who has slammed the President as a “vacant boob” and insulted Americans who use their 2nd Amendment rights:
She’s also shared messages from notorious Never Trumper Bill Kristol, who used to run the now defunct Weekly Standard magazine, and is now integrally connected with anti-Trump activity via the Bulwark blog, and a bevy of front groups that are centered around the “Defending Democracy Together” group funded by Democrat donors.
17. Evelyn Aswad, Professor and Chair, University of Oklahoma College of Law
Aswad has donated to Democrats including congressional candidate Dan Baer.
She also participated in the Istanbul Process, “an initiative launched by former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in partnership with the Organization of Islamic Cooperation” convening at the United Nations in Geneva, Switzerland.
18. John Samples, Vice President, Cato Institute
CATO is a libertarian think tank in favor of open borders.
Concerning President Trump, Samples has commented: “I think to remove him because he is the way he is may well be justified.” He has also called him incompetent,” and said Trump “appears to oppose basic ideals underpinning liberal democracy.”
Samples was recently featured in a National Pulse exclusive as a member of Google’s previously undisclosed “go to” list of “conservative” influencers that Big Tech firm Google uses to influence the political dynamics in Washington, D.C.
19. Michael McConnell, Professor and Director of the Constitutional Law Center, Stanford Law School
McConnell appears to be the first – and only – board member who isn’t apolitical or fervently opposed to President Trump. He’s written columns defending him against impeachment and is a senior fellow at Stanford’s conservative Hoover Institute.
McConnell is a Republican, solidly in the establishment wing of the party.
He was appointed as Judge of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit by George W. Bush and speculated as a potential Supreme Court nominee for Bush, Mitt Romney, and John McCain administrations.
As Legal Affairs noted:
“McConnell might be acceptable to conservatives because he does believe that the Supreme Court has gone too far in reading the total separation of church and state into the Constitution, and because he personally is opposed to abortion, and understands that Roe v. Wade has no firm constitutional foundation. He might be acceptable to the left not only because so many liberal professors support him, but also because he has been public in his criticism of Bush v. Gore and the impeachment of President Clinton.”
20. Emi Palmor, Advocate and Lecturer, Interdisciplinary Center Herzliya, Israel
Palmor’s appointment drew anti-Semitic criticism from anti-Israel activists and organizations given her tenure at the Israeli Ministry of Justice from 2014-2019.
Critics allege that under her control, “the Israeli Ministry of Justice petitioned Facebook to censor legitimate speech of human rights defenders and journalists because it was deemed politically undesirable.
Palmor led a government commission tasked “to stamp out racism,” equated to the Black Lives Matter movement by the left-wing outlet.
* * * * *
The National Pulse wrote to Facebook for comment on why their board is 95 percent constituted by overtly anti-Trump voices, with three-quarters of those with a potential hand in U.S. elections from or based overseas.
BONUS: Jeffrey Gelman
Facebook spokesman Jeffrey Gelman refused to answer the questions, instead pointing us to a generic Facebook website.
The National Pulse reviewed Gelman’s employment history to check for bias even in the journalistic process within Facebook. Gelman was a researcher for the Obama campaign in 2008, and an Obama administration staffer between 2010 and 2016.
While Gelman isn’t on the Oversight Board, it seemed appropriate to add him for avoiding questions – on behalf of Facebook – on the board.
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