Saturday Night Live Cold Open Mocks Senators Responding to Facebook Whistleblower Testimony: ‘Well, Ted Cruz Sucks Isn’t Really Misinformation’

Saturday Night Live parodied lawmakers’ response to Facebook whistleblower France Haugen testifying before Senate.

Haugen, a former product manager on Facebook’s civic integrity team, told a Senate panel earlier this week that the site has prioritized profits over safety and helped stoke political divisions and violence.

The show poked fun at a variety of senators including Sens. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA), John Neely Kennedy (R-LA), Ted Cruz (R-TX), Cory Booker (D-NJ), and Lindsey Graham (R-SC).

“Ms. Haugen, I applaud your testimony here today,” Cecily Strong as Feinstein said, kicking off the questioning. “What Facebook has done is disgraceful, and you better believe Congress will be taking action right after we pass the infrastructure bill, raise the debt ceiling, prosecute those responsible for the January 6th insurrection and stop Trump from using executive privilege, even though he’s no longer president. But after all that, you watch out, Facebook.”

Feinstein then asked, “My question is, I have 2,000 friends on Facebook. Is that good?”

The sketch then mocked Cruz, played by Aidy Bryant, who told Haugen he “was particularly drawn” to her testimony about cyberbullying.

“So I’m wondering how do you turn off that feature on Facebook where everyone comments on all your posts and says you’re bad and they hate you,” Cruz said.

“Well there’s an option to turn off comments,” Haugen answered.

“Okay, excellent,” Cruz replied. “Now I’m also concerned about the toxic extremist groups you mentioned. I’ve seen groups with hateful names like ‘Ted Cruz sucks’ or ‘Ted Cruz is the real Zodiac Killer’ or ‘How could Ted Cruz have kids when he’s a virgin.’ Shouldn’t we flag those as misinformation?

“Well, ‘Ted Cruz sucks’ isn’t really misinformation, it’s just one person’s opinion,” Haugen said.

“Well, it’s more than one person’s opinion,” Cruz said.

SNL’s Senate panel then moved on to Graham, portrayed by James Austin Johnson.

Later in the sketch, Graham asked Haugen, When you open an incognito window on Google, does that prevent God from seeing what you are doing?”

“That sounds like maybe a question for the Bible,” Haugen replied.

Watch above, via Saturday Night Live