Presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden’s campaign is reportedly planning to launch ads on Facebook promoting an open letter released by the campaign Thursday, which criticizes the social media giant and its CEO Mark Zuckerberg.
In the letter, the Biden campaign criticized Facebook for not addressing posts from President Donald Trump which, according to the campaign, involve “threatening behavior or lies about how to participate in an election.” The campaign also called on Facebook to lay out clear rules for content and to fact-check viral statements made by the president, The Washington Post reported.
The open letter, which the campaign reportedly wants to promote on Facebook, refers to Facebook as a “tool to spread disinformation that undermines our elections.” The letter also added that failure to establish clear rules and prohibit threatening or dishonest behavior could turn Facebook into a tool that “corrodes our democracy.”
We can’t let history repeat itself — Facebook needs to act now to stop the spread of disinformation and protect our elections. Watch my deputy campaign manager Kate Bedingfield break down what’s happening and how you can help us fix it: https://t.co/WYMMAWkuLZ pic.twitter.com/OGG2wwtW2P
— Joe Biden (@JoeBiden) June 12, 2020
Biden and campaign allies strongly criticized Zuckerberg after he refused to remove or flag Trump posts talking about the George Floyd protests and riots. (RELATED: Twitter Censors White House Account For Quoting Trump’s Flagged ‘THUGS’ Tweet)
In a tweet sent Thursday, Biden took a tough stance on “unchecked” social media companies. He also accused online disinformation campaigns of helping Trump win in 2016 and fears that they will do the same in 2020.
Folks, we saw in 2016 what can happen when social media platforms are left unchecked and allow disinformation to run rampant. It puts the very integrity of our elections at risk.
We simply cannot let it happen again in 2020.
— Joe Biden (@JoeBiden) June 11, 2020
Even as Biden criticizes Facebook and Zuckerberg, his campaign continues to invest millions into social media advertising on the platform. The Biden campaign has been ramping up its social media and youth outreach efforts due to the widespread protests against racism and police brutality, The Washington Post reported.
In the past week, the Biden campaign spent around $4.8 million on Facebook ads compared to the Trump campaign’s $1.3 million, according to The New York Times. This was an unusual occurrence as the Trump campaign typically outspends Democrats on Facebook ads.
The Daily Caller has reached out to the Biden campaign and will update the article if it responds.
