Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg sold out America to the Chinese communist government and should be taken to court and have his company, now called Meta, broken up.

That’s the considered opinion of Missouri Sen. Josh Hawley, who chaired a Senate hearing Wednesday in which a company whistleblower alleged she saw Meta officials “repeatedly undermine U.S. national security and betray American values.”

In particular, former director of global public policy for Meta Sarah Wynn-Williams told Hawley’s Counterterrorism Subcommittee that Meta briefed the Chinese Communist Party on the latest in artificial intelligence, shared U.S. user data, and helped the CCP “construct and test custom-built censorship tools that silenced and censored critics of the Chinese Communist Party.”

“Yeah, that is a fair summary and that is an atrocious record,” Hawley told The Heartlander in an exclusive interview Thursday. “And this is what Mark Zuckerberg now wants credit for. He wants to be treated like a great American. He wants to be lionized as an American hero. He wants the White House to do him special favors. He wants every White House to do him special favors. This is the most entitled guy in America. 

“And the testimony we heard yesterday was absolutely shocking. 

“I mean, it was a bombshell. It was that this company, Facebook, has worked with the Chinese Communist Party for years. They’ve briefed top Communist Party officials. They brought them to the United States. They’ve helped them with AI. They’ve made user data available in China. They’ve turned over Americans personal information to China. They’ve helped China out-compete other American businesses. 

“I mean really, it’s hard to get much worse than that. I don’t know what it would be. 

“This guy needs to be taken to court. His company needs to be broken up. And I can’t wait to get him under oath, because that’s the thing I’m going to ask for next.”

Consequences could include perjury charges

Hawley has blistered Meta all week on X, posting at one point, “What our investigation has revealed – Facebook and Mark Zuckerberg did business with the Chinese Communist Party, built censorship tools for them, and turned over user data – and lied about it to Congress & the American people. Now it’s time for consequences.”

What type of consequences?

The first one, Hawley says, is to face him in a Senate hearing.

“Well, No. 1, I want Mark Zuckerberg to come and testify under oath. We’ve heard now, not just allegations; we’ve heard evidence, and I’ve seen the evidence, and I presented some of it yesterday. 

“We’ve got it in black and white. We’ve got his company lying to Congress. They told us that they never provided user data overseas to the Chinese communist government, but yet they did. They told us that they didn’t censor Chinese dissidents, and we have it in black and white that they did.  

“They have lied to us. They have lied to the American people. Mark Zuckerberg needs to come and answer for that, No. 1, and No. 2, anybody who’s lied to Congress needs to face the consequences of that. And if we can make perjury referrals to the Department of Justice, we will.”

Should Meta receive the same treatment as China – which is currently under federal order to give up its controlling interest in TikTok or shut it down?

“Well, you know, it’s a great question,” Hawley says. “And I’ve become more and more open to that every day. 

“I mean, listening to this testimony yesterday, it really just put the lie to everything Zuckerberg has said for years. For years, he said America needs me to win. America needs Facebook to take on China. What we learned yesterday was, Facebook’s been helping China!  

“Facebook’s been going to China and saying, ‘China, let us help you beat American businesses.’ Facebook was trying to give them information on other American rivals. Facebook was trying to help China take out American competitors. 

“I mean, really, you talk about disloyalty to this country – have some basic decency, man. That’s my message to Mark Zuckerberg. His behavior is unbelievable. And really, for Americans it’s unforgivable.”

Were you censored?

Have the censorship tools the whistleblower mentioned been turned on Americans? 

“We don’t know the answer to that,” Hawley says. “Believe me, I want to get to the bottom of it. But I will just say this: If you were an American who traveled and did business overseas as a lot of Americans do in Hong Kong or Taiwan or other parts of Asia, then there’s a very good chance that, yes, these censorship tools were used against you. 

“In particular, they were used in Hong Kong. Heck, I was in Hong Kong during the height of the protests. I went there to support the protesters who were fighting against Beijing, and what we learned yesterday was Facebook eagerly provided censorship tools to the Chinese government to use in Hong Kong, to use in Taiwan, to use in Asia. 

“And it didn’t segregate out Americans. So, if you’re an American who was communicating with friends or family over there, or you were there on business, you were probably censored as well, you had your information accessed by and turned over to the Chinese government. 

“This is unbelievable stuff. The fact that Meta has lied about it for years is just unconscionable.”

“All for a buck”

Why would an American company do things that are so contrary to the spirit of the First Amendment, even overseas?

“You know, all for a buck,” Hawley responds. “I mean, no morals, no sense of patriotism – completely lost their moral compass. That’s what this really is. All of this was for money. 

“Think about that. Just for a buck – because Mark Zuckerberg, who’s already a multibillionaire, wanted even more, and he wanted his company, which is already one of the most powerful companies in the world, to be even more powerful. 

“And so, he was willing to sell out America to the Chinese government, the communist government. Goodness gracious, it is sickening, and it’s a far cry from the day when it used to be you could count on American companies to stand with the United States of America. Not Facebook.”