TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – Today, Governor DeSantis directed Secretary of State Laurel M. Lee to investigate Facebook for alleged election interference, following a bombshell report that the tech giant put its thumb on the scale of numerous state and local races by exempting elite users from Facebook’s own rules.
“It’s no secret that Big Tech censors have long enforced their own rules inconsistently,” said Governor Ron DeSantis. “If this new report is true, Facebook has violated Florida law to put its thumb on the scale of numerous state and local races. Floridians deserve to know how much this corporate titan has influenced our elections. That is why I am directing Secretary Lee to use all legal means to uncover violations of Florida’s election laws. The thought of Facebook clandestinely manipulating elections is an affront to the basic principles of our republic. We the people have the right to choose our representatives, whether or not Silicon Valley approves.”
In a letter sent to Secretary of State Laurel M. Lee, Governor DeSantis directs Secretary Lee to investigate Facebook’s alleged failures to comply with Florida’s election laws. The full text of the letter can be found here.
Internal documents obtained by the Wall Street Journal reveal the egregious double standard that Facebook applies to its users. While most people are subject to arbitrary censorship at the whims of so-called fact-checkers, Facebook grants select users the freedom to disregard the platform’s own community standards without the threat of enforcement action.
If the Wall Street Journal report is accurate, Facebook has created a privileged class of speakers and has empowered them to manipulate our elections with impunity. Even more disturbing, these elite users on Facebook’s “whitelist” were allegedly selected by the tech giant behind closed doors. The selection process, scope, and real-world influence of the whitelist is concealed from the public and known only to Facebook. If true, this process may have provided a benefit to incumbent elected politicians over their challengers in state and local elections.
Floridians deserve to have faith that their elections are free from Big Tech interference, and corporations like Facebook deserve to be held accountable for actions that erode the legitimacy of our institutions.
