According to Politico, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis directed his secretary of state to launch an investigation into a Facebook program that could have given incumbent politicians “an advantage over challengers” — but it’s unclear what state laws the social media giant could have violated.
The Facebook program, reported earlier this month by the Wall Street Journal, created a system where high profile users were either “whitelisted” — which effectively means they were exempt from Facebook guidelines over allowable content — or allowed to post content that violates the company’s rules pending review from its staff.
The program was put in place for Facebook “VIP” users such as well-known athletes, not just elected officials, but did include many government officials. Because not all politicians were included in the program, it gave what amounts to an incumbent advantage over challengers, according to internal Facebook documents reviewed by the Wall Street Journal.
DeSantis has made high-profile fights with social media companies, disparagingly referred to as “Big Tech” in the conservative ecosystem, an ingrained part of his political DNA. That includes championing legislation during the 2021 Florida legislative session that, among other things, instituted fines of between $25,000 and $250,000 on social media companies that ban — or de-platformed — political candidates. The GOP-led Florida Legislature approved the social media legislation in the wake of Facebook and other social media companies removing former President Donald Trump from their platforms for pushing baseless claims of election fraud.”
There has been a long-standing and ongoing struggle between Conservative sentiment and Big Tech as Facebook had previously condoned death threats to be used against Conservatives. These were those that Facebook considered “dangerous individuals“.
Politico went on to report “Your office should use all legal means to uncover any such violations, including but not limited to, issuing subpoenas, conducting witness interviews, reviewing all available information and consulting with law enforcement,” DeSantis wrote in a letter to Florida Secretary of State Laurel Lee.
DeSantis did not outline what specific election laws he thought were violated. Generally, potential election law violations are investigated by the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, not the Department of State, which serves as the state’s top election administrator.
Latest Comments