A recent study conducted by the Media Research Center (MRC) found that Facebook has interfered with U.S. elections 39 times since 2008. The analysis found that Facebook has interfered with stories in every major election since 2012, with activity reaching new heights in 2020.
According to the study, Facebook’s election interference efforts really picked up in 2012 in the weeks leading up to the presidential election between Mitt Romney and Barrack Obama. Just a week prior to the election, Facebook suspended the account of Special Operations Speaks, a veteran-led PAC, for posting a meme that drew attention to the attack on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi.
The meme included pictures of then-President Barrack Obama and Osama bin-Laden along with the words “Obama called on the SEALs and THEY got bin Laden. When the SEALs called on Obama THEY GOT DENIED,” Breitbart News reported at the time. Facebook removed the post, claiming that it had ““violate[d] Facebook’s Statement of Rights and Responsibilities.”
Things escalated in 2016, when Facebook censored then-Democratic Party presidential candidate Bernie Sanders and “conservative news” topics.
