The politics of Facebook are again drawing scrutiny as all eyes are on the two runoff elections in Georgia that will determine control of the U.S. Senate.
Sen. David Perdue (R-GA) is being challenged by David Ossoff in one race, while interim Sen. Kelly Loeffler (R-GA) is being challenged by Raphael Warnock in the other. The election date is January 5th.
The two runoff elections are the two most expensive Senate races in U.S. history.
The Georgia Senate runoffs are now the number 1 and number 2 most expensive congressional elections of all time. T… https://t.co/fPQnvQKS09— OpenSecrets.org (@OpenSecrets.org) 1609009501.0
Some of that money is reportedly coming from a top Facebook executive.
"Joel Kaplan, Facebook's global head of public policy, donated $2800 to Loeffler and $2800 to Perdue on December 24," Judd Legum of Popular Information reported Saturday.
Legum has been reporting on "how Facebook has failed to enforce Facebook's policies on ads that include false attacks on Warnock, Loeffler's opponent."
"Has Kaplan been involved in any of these decisions?" he wondered.
Here is the thread he posted to Twitter:
2. The story starts on December 17, after Facebook begins allowing political ads in Georgia. American Crossroads,… https://t.co/EhsWuQV0cF— Judd Legum (@Judd Legum) 1608830412.0
4. Here's Warnock's full quote: "Extracted from its theological and rhetorical context and looped to the point of a… https://t.co/nZY7xrHzJ2— Judd Legum (@Judd Legum) 1608830610.0
6. Based on my Twitter thread on 12/17, one of Facebook's fact-checking partners evaluated the American Crossroads… https://t.co/xTRAPygAua— Judd Legum (@Judd Legum) 1608830762.0
8. But on December 20, American Crossroads just reposted the EXACT SAME AD dishonestly attacking Warnock. AND FAC… https://t.co/YAC4Dgjiqv— Judd Legum (@Judd Legum) 1608830967.0
10. I exposed what happened on Twitter and, after a delay of several hours, Facebook took down the duplicated ad. https://t.co/KjmQj0ToXp— Judd Legum (@Judd Legum) 1608831097.0
12. Then, on December 22, American Crossroads posted another ad WITH THE SAME FALSE ATTACK ON WARNOCK. IT WAS APPR… https://t.co/qeq36FE2AA— Judd Legum (@Judd Legum) 1608831346.0
14. Facebook has 50,000 employees and had 21.4 billion in revenue in the 3Q 2020. My newsletter has 2 employees an… https://t.co/SlRY08X4mP— Judd Legum (@Judd Legum) 1608831733.0
16. UPDATE: The ad has finally been taken down. Merry Christmas! https://t.co/BbmvO88lL7— Judd Legum (@Judd Legum) 1608939131.0
