If you are reading this, then you are partaking in a threat to American democracy — at least according to President Barack Obama’s former senior advisor and MSNBC guest Dan Pfeiffer.
On Monday, Pfeiffer told MSNBC’s Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski that the popularity of Ben Shapiro, Candace Owens, and The Daily Wire is a danger. Scarborough wondered why the government can’t simply pass regulations to prevent so-called misinformation from conservatives on social media platforms. Pfeiffer responded by alleging that Big Tech’s algorithms are often beneficial to influencers on the right of the political spectrum.
“If you go to Facebook on a daily basis, the posts with the most engagement are from Ben Shapiro, Dan Bongino, and Candace Owens. It is right-wing media content. It dwarfs progressive content. It dwarfs mainstream media content — which is actually, should be the part that should scare us the most, that Ben Shapiro’s Daily Wire has more followers and engagement — many times more — than the New York Times or CNN. That is a problem for democracy,” Pfeiffer explained while calling social media platforms the “tobacco companies of the day.”
.@danpfeiffer on MSNBC: "If you go to Facebook on a daily basis…@benshapiro's Daily Wire has more followers and engagement, many times more than the New York Times or CNN. That is a problem for democracy." pic.twitter.com/WYraWGfp8C
— Daily Wire (@realDailyWire) June 6, 2022
Brzezinski then interjected by asking, “So are you saying, that like, the Republican agenda is backed up by the freaks on Facebook and so they don’t want to do anything about it?”
“Absolutely,” Pfeiffer claimed.
“To be very clear is that Facebook is the most powerful messaging platform for the extreme MAGA message. That benefits the Republicans,” Pfeiffer added. “They like to cry about Facebook and Big Tech, and then they just laugh their way to the bank when Facebook just pushes their message, including the Big Lie,” all across the country, he alleged.
Pfeiffer also bemoaned that “right-wing media is much more powerful” than when he worked for Obama. Scarborough, too, shook his head in disgust while Brzezinski compared conservative news outlets to cancer.
Pfeiffer also said that media companies have to “rethink how they deal with people who lie for a living,” which he implied is only coming from one side of the political aisle.
The clips can be seen here:
Pfeiffer: "If you go to Facebook on a daily basis, the posts with the most engagement are from @benshapiro, @dbongino, @RealCandaceO … it should scare us the most that Ben Shapiro’s @realDailyWire has more followers than the NYT or CNN. That is a problem for democracy." pic.twitter.com/wuYLluaWLm
— Tom Elliott (@tomselliott) June 6, 2022
In reaction to Pfeiffer’s comments, The Daily Wire’s co-CEO and “god-king” Jeremy Boreing responded, “To be fair, who doesn’t have more engagement than CNN? But please tell me how the network that paid a sitting governor’s brother to report on him is not a threat to democracy, but Daily Wire is.”
To be fair, who doesn’t have more engagement than CNN?
But please tell me how the network that paid a sitting governor’s brother to report on him is not a threat to democracy, but Daily Wire is. https://t.co/5zhwDpqpqL
— Jeremy Boreing (@JeremyDBoreing) June 6, 2022
The Daily Wire’s Michael Knowles provided his audience with a translation of Pfeiffer’s remarks.
“Translation: ‘Nooooo! The Daily Wire is popular!!! Noooo!!!! 😭😭😭,'” Knowles tweeted while adding, “By ‘Democracy,” @danpfeiffer of course means ‘us libs.'”
Translation: "Nooooo! The Daily Wire is popular!!! Noooo!!!! 😭😭😭"
(By "democracy," @danpfeiffer of course means "us libs.") https://t.co/5J6y9HwbeZ
— Michael Knowles 🐄🧀🥛🧈 (@michaeljknowles) June 6, 2022
The Daily Wire’s Twitter account also had some fun with the segment:
The horror pic.twitter.com/ex7hHKxsv9
— Daily Wire (@realDailyWire) June 6, 2022