Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) announced Monday that he has instructed Secretary of State Laurel Lee to investigate Facebook for its "alleged election interference" following a bombshell report from The Wall Street Journal that found the social media platform exempted high profile users from some or all of its rules during the 2020 election.
"It’s no secret that Big Tech censors have long enforced their own rules inconsistently," DeSantis said in a press release. "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," he continued. "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."
The release also said that, if the report is found to be accurate, Facebook created a "privileged class of speakers and has empowered them to manipulate our elections with impunity."
It further notes that the tech giant picked these "elite users" behind the scenes and that the selection process, scope and real-world influence of these users is only known to Facebook.
"If true, this process may have provided a benefit to incumbent elected politicians over their challengers in state and local elections," the release said.
In his letter to Lee, DeSantis ordered an investigation into whether Facebook violated any of Florida's election laws through its whitelisting program, as well as any other previously undisclosed program within the platform. He directed the secretary to use "all legal means to uncover any such violations."
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Facebook spokesperson Drew Pusateri, in a statement to The Hill, backed what he called the "cross check system" and said that the company has made efforts to address its problems.
"The cross check system was designed for an important reason: to create an additional step so we can accurately enforce policies on content that could require more understanding," Pusateri said.
"This could include activists raising awareness of instances of violence or journalists reporting from conflict zones," he continued. "Facebook itself identified the issues with cross check and has been working to address them. We’ve made investments, built a dedicated team, and have been redesigning cross check to improve how the system operates."
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