Gov. Ron DeSantis has directed Florida‘s secretary of state’s office to launch a probe into whether Facebook has violated any of the state’s election laws through its alleged shadow program granting purported preferential treatment to some candidates.
The governor pointed to The Wall Street Journal’s bombshell report from earlier this month regarding internal documents about the social media giant’s XCheck program, which Facebook itself admits grants a second level of review for high-profile users like politicians – but not every candidate in every race.
“While the program included most government officials, it didn’t include all candidates for public office, at times effectively granting incumbents in elections an advantage over challengers,” The Journal reported. “The discrepancy was most prevalent in state and local races, the documents show, and employees worried Facebook could be subject to accusations of favoritism.”
“It’s no secret that Big Tech censors have long enforced their own rules inconsistently,” DeSantis said in a statement announcing the move on Monday. “If this new report is true, Facebook has violated Florida law to put its thumb on the scale of numerous state and local races.”
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