If you think AOC is being praised too much for challenging Mark Zuckerberg, you're right

Facebook has again found itself in the firing line, this time by the US House of Representatives Financial Services Committee, over the launch of its cryptocurrency project, Libra. Given Facebook’s loose policies towards privacy, many lawmakers have been concerned over the project.

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s interrogation of Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg has been a standout moment for many pundits. Directly after the congressional hearing with Zuckerberg, she has been heavily commended, and rightly so, for her direct and well-thought-out line of questioning.

Ocasio-Cortez, appearing articulate, patient and composed, asked Zuckerberg a range of questions from when he first knew of Cambridge Analytica to Facebook’s failures in fact-checking political advertisements. Zuckerberg seemed jittery and nervous in contrast. “So, you won't take down lies or you will take down lies? I think that's just a pretty simple yes or no”, Ocasio-Cortez said at one point in frustration. Her insistence on clarity and truth seemed to contrast with his inability to be straightforward.

We are now at a point where a congresswoman is praised for undertaking the exact role she is elected and paid to do. Now, nobody’s denying that Ocasio-Cortez is excellent at her job. Over the past year, the Representative of New York’s 14th district has been applauded for questioning Michael Cohen and the relationship between President Donald Trump and insurance fraud, probing CEOs of the largest financial institutions, and calling out Trump’s corruption during a “lightening round game” at the House Oversight Committee. But the disproportionate amount of praise heaped upon her is comparable to applauding every time a doctor accurately diagnoses a health condition.

In comparison to Ocasio-Cortez, other congresspersons have been less enthused during congressional hearings, having seemingly not researched topics they are elected to scrutinise or the individuals they should be holding to account. The first time Zuckerberg sat through a Congress testimony, Zuckerberg smirked and giggled as he eased his way through tranquil lines of questioning, occasionally bewildered by the fact that he had to explain how the internet works to senators. Senator Brian Schatz reveled that he thought emails are sent through WhatsApp, and Senator Orinn Hatch failed to understand the concept of garnering revenue through advertising.

Considering the Cambridge Analytica exposé was one of the largest scandals to hit both US and UK democracies of late, this lackluster line of questioning is totally unacceptable, especially with civil freedoms under threat. 

Ocasio-Cortez is a shining example of how to hold the US elite, or the top 1 tenth of 1 percent (as her presidential endorsement reminds us), to account — and other politicians should take heed. Johnathon Swan of Axios was recently condemned for his softball, joyful approach to his interview with Donald Trump, where Swan at one point appeared to bounce in his chair with glee as they discussed Trump’s regressive ambitions to change the constitution and remove birthright.

For too long, congressmen and women have held comfortable seats in government without voicing the daily concerns of the people they were elected to represent. Ocasio-Cortez, and her performances in congress, should serve as a reminder that these comfortable seats are not stable, and they require proper work. She won her seat off 10-term incumbent and Democratic caucus chair Joe Crowley, after all.

Congress is not a one-person team and the duty of rigorous questioning should not lie on the shoulders of a select few like Ocasio-Cortez and Ilhan Omar. Elected officials and journalists during all congressional hearings, senate hearings and upcoming impeachment proceedings must heavily scrutinise those in power.

Ocasio-Cortez has every right to be praised. Indeed, members of congress have set the bar so low that it’s basically inevitable she will be. Now it’s time to start questioning when the rest of them will take their jobs seriously.