Mark Zuckerberg's Meta is making a notable departure from its prior involvement in politics, a move that could greatly influence the outcome of the 2024 presidential election.
According to The Washington Post, as the 2024 presidential race between Joe Biden and President Trump heats up, Meta, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram, is implementing substantial changes to its political approach on its platforms. This change in direction follows years of engagement with the political sphere, during which CEO Mark Zuckerberg previously highlighted Facebook’s impact in the 2016 election.
The company has taken steps to decrease the prominence of politics-related posts and accounts, implemented more stringent regulations on political advertisers, and restricted the targeting capabilities that politicians traditionally used to connect with potential voters. These adjustments have affected both the Biden and Trump campaigns, as evidenced by a Washington Post analysis revealing a 60 percent decrease in their average engagement per Facebook post between March 2020 and March 2024, along with double-digit declines on Instagram.
Top Trump campaign adviser Chris LaCivita compared Meta's shift away from politics to a type of shadow banning, expressing concern by stating, “People should be concerned, and Congress should have questions. I think Big Tech would be absurd if they think Republicans would not have a concern about them putting their finger on the scale of organic political speech.”
