Watchdog group finds nearly 40 instances of Facebook meddling in US elections since 2012

WASHINGTON (TND) — A newly published study by the conservative watchdog group MRC Free Speech America tallied up 39 times Facebook interfered with U.S. elections since 2012.

“Basically 98% of the firepower is directed at conservatives," explained Dan Schneider, one of the report's authors. "There are instances where Facebook has taken down liberals. But those liberals are either in opposition to Joe Biden, you know, like RFK Jr. or else they’re in opposition to Facebook itself.”

The first account of meddling detailed in the report goes back to the weeks before the 2012 presidential election when Facebook suspended the account of a veteran-run PAC after the group made posts criticizing the Obama Administration for the deaths of four Americans in Benghazi.

Facebook officials later called the removal an “error” not an act of censorship.

Other examples trace through 2016, 2018, 2020 to present day elections.

During this time Meta CEO Mark Zuckerburg adamantly maintained the company’s commitment to free speech.

“The ability to speak freely has been essential to the fight for democracy worldwide," Zuckerburg said during a 2019 speech at Georgetown University.

Schneider says recently; however, the platform does appear to be censoring much less.

“In the last two years, we’ve seen Facebook censor far less than they had in 2020. My hope is that Facebook really has turned over a new leaf," Schneider added, "We need improvements out of Facebook. We need to see an actual platform that promotes free speech and allows real vibrant discussions and debates that’s what American democracy is based on.”

TND reached out to Meta on Wednesday, and representatives for the tech company said they have no comment on the recent report.