Republican Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis ordered Secretary of State Laurel Lee to investigate Facebook on Monday over “alleged election interference” revealed by a The Wall Street Journal’s bombshell report.
The WSJ’s Sep. 13 report showed that the tech giant employed a content review system called “XCheck” that allowed certain “whitelisted” high-profile figures and celebrities to bypass its algorithms when sharing content that would otherwise be flagged as against the platform’s rules.
The governor sent a letter to Lee, directing Florida’s Department of State to “use all legal means” necessary to determine if Facebook’s undisclosed policy has violated his state’s election laws.
I am authorizing @FLSecofState and the Florida Department of State to open an investigation into Facebook’s alleged election interference through its whitelisting program.
Floridians deserve to know how much Big Tech has influenced our elections. pic.twitter.com/rmGmZ6BK6T
— Ron DeSantis (@GovRonDeSantis) September 27, 2021
“It’s no secret that Big Tech censors have long enforced their own rules inconsistently,” DeSantis said in a Monday 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.” (RELATED: SCHILLING: DeSantis Strikes Back Against Big Tech Censorship)
“Floridians deserve to know how much this corporate titan has influenced our elections. That is why I am directing Secretary Lee to use all legal means to uncover violations of Florida’s election laws,” he added.