“How many strikes does a conspiracy theorist who attacks grieving parents and student survivors of mass shootings get?” Rep. Ted Deutch asked a Facebook policy official at a House Judiciary Committee hearing. | Drew Angerer/Getty Images Democrats criticize Facebook for not taking down InfoWars

Democrats on Tuesday pressed Facebook on why it has not suspended far-right website InfoWars, a known purveyor of conspiracy theories, from its service.

Rep. Ted Deutch, whose district includes Parkland, Florida, site of the February school shooting that left 17 dead, noted a video by Alex Jones-led InfoWars portraying survivors of the Parkland shooting as actors.


“How many strikes does a conspiracy theorist who attacks grieving parents and student survivors of mass shootings get?” Deutch asked Facebook policy official Monika Bickert at a House Judiciary Committee hearing.

Bickert said individual InfoWars posts found to have violated Facebook’s terms of service have been taken down.

“If they posted sufficient content that violated our threshold, the page would come down. That threshold varies depending on the severity of different types of violations,” she said.

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That response didn’t sit well with Democrats on the panel, who accused Facebook of caving to unfounded conservative allegations of bias by social media companies.

“You guys are private, journalistic entities right now, but if you’re going to be ideologically badgered and bulldozed to take positions in the interest of the right-wing politics, then we are going to have to look at what’s happening there, because then at that point there’s not viewpoint neutrality,” said Rep. Jamie Raskin.

Rep. David Cicilline echoed that view, saying Facebook has “bent over backwards” to placate conservatives.

Facebook has been defending its approach to InfoWars for days, since trying to articulate its position at a media event last week devoted to its fight against fake news.