As Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg finally admitted to collusion between Facebook and the government to censor free speech, Congressional Republicans called it a “big win.” But the real victory will come only if Congress holds those guilty of “civil right violations” accountable, Steve Friend said.

Friend, an FBI whistleblower and senior fellow at Center for Renewing America, told me in exclusive comments to PJ Media that transparency isn’t effective without corresponding accountability. “Congress must exercise its power of the purse” against the government agencies Zuckerberg cited as engaging in unconstitutional actions.

“Mr. Zuckerberg's statement is compelling evidence that the federal government deputized social media companies to unconstitutionally censor Americans' free speech,” Friend stated. Therefore, “Congress must exercise its power of the purse in the upcoming budget fight as leverage to remove any government actors who facilitated these civil rights violations and pressure the Department of Justice to bring criminal prosecutions against the worst offenders.” Zuckerberg specifically cited the FBI and the Biden White House as pushing for censorship of COVID-19 and election-related content.

House Judiciary Committee Republicans shared Zuckerberg’s letter on X, saying, “Mark Zuckerberg just admitted three things: 1. Biden-Harris Admin ‘pressured’ Facebook to censor Americans. 2. Facebook censored Americans. 3. Facebook throttled the Hunter Biden laptop story. Big win for free speech.” But as Friend said, “The time for transparency has passed. We need accountability.”

It is an unfortunate and seriously dangerous tendency of Republicans in Congress to talk up a threat, and then pull back from taking any significant action to mitigate that threat. Congress controls the budget, yet so far under the leadership of both Kevin McCarthy and Mike Johnson, congressional Republicans have surrendered every funding fight to radical Democrats and the very government agencies that worked to crush First Amendment rights.

Related: ‘Conspiracy Theorists’ No More: RFK on Zuck’s COVID Censorship Admission

But there is a chance for Republicans to live up to their own talking points. The appropriations process has already begun, with a potential budget fight in the works. The FBI/DOJ, the Biden White House, and other government entities — including the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) — put serious pressure on Meta to censor speech across its multiple platforms. Will they get away scot-free with their egregious violations of Constitutional rights?

Congress must take action ahead of the 2024 election. Biden‘s VP Kamala Harris, one of the officials implicated in the censorship campaign, is of course running to be president. And Zuckerberg specifically implicated the FBI in manipulating Facebook to censor the Hunter Biden laptop scandal, thereby rigging the 2020 election. An MRC poll previously found evidence that such censorship significantly swayed the 2020 election in Biden’s favor. 

If the same is not to happen this time, there need to be financial consequences for trying to silence the American people.