Tag: Facebook

Trump PAC Raising Funds On Facebook Despite His Suspension

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Facebook’s latest policy carve-out for former President Donald Trump, which allows Trump’s political action committees to run ads as long they are not “in his voice,” has permitted Trump to fundraise and promote his events on the platform, even though he is suspended for at least two years. In return, Facebook has earned at least $10,000 in revenue on these ads.

On June 21, Politico reported that Trump’s Save America Joint Fundraising Committee, a joint venture between his Make America Great Again PAC and his newer Save America leadership PAC, had started sponsoring Facebook ads on the Team Trump campaign page. The Team Trump page, which hasn’t run any ads since the 2020 election, is also now managed by the Save America Joint Fundraising Committee, and it was run by the Trump campaign as recently as May.

Media Matters analyzed data from Facebook’s Ad Library and found that Team Trump has run 258 ads since June 16, spending at least $10,200 and earning at least 1.3 million impressions on ads fundraising off Trump’s visit to the border, attacking President Joe Biden, supporting Trump and “the MAGA Movement,” or promoting his upcoming rally in Ohio. At time of publication, 37 of the ads are active. Continue reading.

House unveils antitrust package to rein in tech giants

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A House antitrust panel on Friday unveiled a bipartisan agenda made up of five bills that would give regulators greater authority to rein in the power of tech giants.

The bills put forward by leaders of the House Judiciary antitrust subcommittee follow a blockbuster report released by the Judiciary panel last year alleging ways that Alphabet, Amazon, Apple and Facebook abuse their market power. The report was approved on a party-line vote earlier this year. 

Each of the five bills unveiled on Friday includes a Republican co-sponsor. Continue reading.

Facebook knowingly allowed GOP-linked ‘troll farm’ to place deceptive ads targeting Democratic voters

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Facebook knowingly allowed a Russia-style “troll farm” to place deceptive ads intended to suppress Democratic turnout in certain congressional races.

The pro-Donald Trump firm Rally Forge, which was closely linked to the conservative youth group Turning Point USA, misleadingly backed Green Party candidates during the 2018 midterm elections in an effort to split the Democratic vote in a number of close races, reported the Guardian.

“There were no policies at Facebook against pretending to be a group that did not exist, an abuse vector that has also been used by the governments of Honduras and Azerbaijan,” said Sophie Zhang, a former Facebook employee turned whistleblower. Continue reading.

Poll: 51 percent of Americans support Trump’s 2-year Facebook ban

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Facebook announced last week that Trump’s account will be suspended until at least 2023.

While the majority of Americans have heard about former President Donald Trump’s Facebook suspension, just over half support the platform’s two-year ban, according to a new POLITICO/ Morning Consult poll released Monday. 

71 percent of voters have heard “a lot” or “some” about Trump’s suspension from the social media platform, while 51 percent of Americans strongly or somewhat support Facebook’s move.

While the majority of Americans have heard about former President Donald Trump’s Facebook suspension, just over half support the platform’s two-year ban, according to a new POLITICO/ Morning Consult poll released Monday. 

71 percent of voters have heard “a lot” or “some” about Trump’s suspension from the social media platform, while 51 percent of Americans strongly or somewhat support Facebook’s move. Continue reading.

Oversight Board upholds Trump’s Facebook suspension

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Facebook’s independent Oversight Board upheld the platform’s suspension of former President Trump’s account but told the social media giant to rethink the ban’s “indefinite” nature. 

Why it matters: The decision sets a global precedent for how Facebook, and potentially other social media companies, will treat political leaders around the world.

Details: The board found Trump’s posts had “severely violated” Facebook rules but questioned the “indeterminate and standardless penalty of indefinite suspension” and “insisted” the company find a “proportionate response” within six months. Continue reading.

Facebook says it will crack down on COVID vaccine misinformation

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Facebook says it will take tougher action during the pandemic against claims that vaccines, including the COVID-19 vaccination, are not effective or safe.

Why it matters: It’s a partial reversal from Facebook’s previous position on vaccine misinformation. In September, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg said the company wouldn’t target anti-vaccination posts the same way it has aggressively cracked down on COVID misinformation.

Details: Facebook is doing four things to crack down on misinformation about COVID-19 and vaccinations in general, following consultation with the World Health Organization: Continue reading.

Dominion Voting tells Facebook, Parler and other social media sites to preserve posts for lawsuits

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SAN FRANCISCO — Lawyers for Dominion Voting Systems have asked Facebook, YouTube, Twitter and Parler to preserve posts about the company, even if the material was already removed for spreading misinformation.

The posts need to be kept “because they are relevant to Dominion’s defamation claims relating to false accusations that Dominion rigged the 2020 election,” according to the demand letters from Dominion’s law firm Clare Locke. Dominion sued Rudolph W. Giuliani and Sidney Powell for more than $1.3 billion each in January, alleging that the lawyers defamed Dominion by saying the machines were used to steal the election from President Donald Trump.

Dominion asked each company to keep posts from slightly differing lists of people. Those included right-wing pundit Dan Bongino, Fox News host Maria Bartiromo, MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell and Powell. It also included news organizations Fox News, One America News Network and Newsmax and — in Twitter’s case — Trump. Continue reading.

Facebook to downplay politics on its platform

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Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg on Wednesday said the company will dial back on pushing political groups and content to users.

Why it matters: Facebook is hoping to dim intense political pressure from conservatives and liberals by backing away from arguments it’s long made that political speech is vital to free expression.

Details: On a call to investors, Zuckerberg said that the company will stop providing recommendations for users to join civic and political groups on a long-term basis. Continue reading.