Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis asked Florida’s secretary of state to investigate Facebook based on reports the social media company gives preferential treatment to politicians, celebrities, professional athletes and other prominent people.
DeSantis cited a recent Wall Street Journal report in asking Secretary of State Laurel Lee to see if Facebook’s policies violated Florida election law. The article detailed Facebook’s practice of exempting high-profile users from some or all of its rules.
The newspaper reported that incumbent politicians were included on the “whitelist,” but challengers in state and local elections often were not on the list. That raised concerns that incumbents could be receiving preferable treatment.
“If this report is true, Facebook has put its thumb on the scale of numerous state and local races in a disturbing and concealed fashion,” DeSantis wrote.
