STEVE DOOCY (CO-HOST): Social media giants like Facebook and Twitter, under fire for alleged political bias and censorship against conservatives, are turning to conservatives and the political right for advice on how to police online content.
AINSLEY EARHARDT (CO-HOST): That's exactly right. Facebook even reached out to our next guest.
BRIAN KILMEADE (CO-HOST): Tony Perkins, he is president of the Family Research Council, a conservative Christian public policy group, and he joins us now. ... What was your reaction when they reached out to you?
TONY PERKINS (FAMILY RESEARCH COUNCIL): Well, I will have to say I was actually -- I read this story. I was in Egypt earlier this week. Read the story. I was a bit surprised that I was described as consulting with Facebook. I do think social media world has a different definition of terms. If, you know, you never have a conversation with somebody or meet them, they're your friends. If they read your post of 280 characters, they're a follower. Now if you have a phone conversation, you're a consultant. I've had one conversation with Facebook. Obviously they're in trouble as many conservatives understand that they are censoring conservative speech and the free flow of conservative ideas online.
EARHARDT: Tell us about the conversation. What did you say to them? What were your recommendations and what'd they say to you?
PERKINS: Well, I said they do have a problem. There is a great concern among conservatives and we just saw the recent example of this a couple weeks ago during Christmas where my friend Franklin Graham had a 2-year-old post removed for a 24-hour period. They said it was an accident. And one of the things I communicated was that, you know, these accidents appear more and more frequently. And so either they are failing to use the technology that they're promoting or there is an intent here to squelch conservative ideas and the free flow of information.
DOOCY: Because Tony, when these accidents happen, and we talk about them here on this program, it seems like almost always they happen to people on the political right or conservatives.
PERKINS: Correct. And our friends over at the Media Research Center actually undertook a pretty exhaustive study to see if conservatives were crying wolf. OK, you know, there's a tendency there. What they found was actually shocking. It's worse than you think. This is not just -- you know social media is not a battleground for ideas. It is a war against conservative ideas. And I think the -- the Congress -- I know now with the House being under control of the Democrats may not be as diving deeply into this as the Republicans were about to. But, look, whether it's the telephone or the social media monopolies, the choking off of ideas and the exchange of information is not good for America.
DOOCY: Indeed.
KILMEADE: All right. Tony, somewhat of a -- the consultant for Facebook. Hopefully they'll call you again.
