Joe Biden’s presidential campaign is targeting Facebook this week over its moderation policies, reportedly demanding that the social media site be held accountable for the misinformation and harassment shared on the platform.
According to a report in the New York Times, the Biden camp plans to release a petition today on social media, including Facebook, as well as through email and text message. It will also reportedly release a video detailing the former vice president’s demands for Facebook to reverse its decision to be “hands off” when it comes to matters of politics.
Digital Trends reached out to the Biden campaign about the push against Facebook. We will update this story as soon as we hear back.
Shortly after the Times report was published, Facebook hit back with its own statement, saying it has to go along with rules politicians make, not the other way around.
“Two weeks ago, the President of the United States issued an executive order directing federal agencies to prevent social media sites from engaging in activities like fact-checking political statements,” the company said in a press release. “This week, the Democratic candidate for president started a petition calling on us to do the exact opposite.”
The statement continued, “There is an election coming in November and we will protect political speech, even when we strongly disagree with it.”
Facebook did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Digital Trends.
Facebook has come under fire from its users — as well as its employees — for its decision to leave up Trump’s now infamous “when the looting starts, the shooting starts” post, while Twitter labeled it as glorifying violence. Hundreds of employees walked off the job in protest, with some quitting over the decision.
Facebook founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg addressed his decision to leave up the post in a post of his own last week, while also vowing to reexamine his platform’s decision-making policies surrounding voter suppression and “threats of state use of force.”
