NC's 'Diamond and Silk' among topics discussed in Facebook congressional hearing

WASHINGTON — North Carolina sisters Lynette Hardaway and Rochelle Richardson were discussed in the congressional hearing with Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg on Wednesday.

The sisters, who go by the name “Diamond and Silk,” are strong supporters of President Donald Trump and have a large group of conservative followers on social media. They claim reduced engagement on their Facebook page is the result of the company's bias against their conservative beliefs.

Facebook does have a policy to remove or hide content they deem unsafe or hate speech.

“We are two women of color, how are we unsafe?” Hardaway said, according to Fox News. “We don’t sell drugs. We don’t belong to no gangs. It’s offensive, it’s appalling, it taints our brand.”

Republican 8th District Congressman Richard Hudson brought up Diamond and Silk during his time to question Zuckerberg.

“What is the standard that Facebook uses to determine what is offensive or controversial, and how's that standard been applied across Facebook’s platform?" Hudson asked.

"We struggle with continuously and the question of what is hate speech versus what is legitimate political speech," Zuckerberg said in response. "I think it's something that we get criticized both from the left and the right on what the definitions are that we have. It is, it's nuanced, and what we try to, we try to lay this out in our community standards, which are public documents that we can make sure that you and your office get to look through the definitions on this. But this is an area where I think society’s sensibilities are also shifting quickly.”