Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis arrives at a news conference, near the Shark Valley Visitor Center in Miami. (AP Photo/Wilfredo Lee, File)
OAN Newsroom
UPDATED 1:28 PM PT – Monday, September 27, 2021
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) directed Secretary of State Laurel Lee to probe Facebook over its suspected interference with the state’s elections. On Monday, the governor ordered a probe into whether Facebook violated any of Florida’s election laws by giving preferential treatment to some of the candidates.
DeSantis highlighted a bombshell Wall Street Journal report, which found Facebook ran an algorithm called “X-Check” to review candidate profiles. The governor has suspected the tech giant of secret censorship of candidates.
“These elites, selected by Facebook behind closed doors, are able to post material without being subject to the opaque review process that normal uses endure,” he stated in a letter to Lee. “This ‘whitelist’ effectively creates two classes of speakers on Facebook’s platform: those who are privileged and those who are not.”
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
DeSantis went on to add Facebook’s algorithm may have manipulated state and local elections, which he said undermined the basic principles of our republic.
