Facebook has come under fire for reportedly throttling advertisements promoting the new biopic about former President Ronald Reagan. The social media giant faced criticism after suspending the movie’s account at least twice and limiting the reach of posts related to the film.
According to reports, Facebook justified the restrictions by stating that the content “mentions politicians or is about sensitive issues that could influence public opinion, how people vote and may impact the outcome of an election or pending legislation.”
Dennis Quaid, who stars as Ronald Reagan in the film, expressed his confusion during an appearance on Fox News. He pointed out the obvious fact that Reagan, who last ran for office four decades ago, is not connected to any current elections.
“It seems to be automated that way for some reason. No one’s responsible for that,” Quaid said. “This happened several times, actually, and we were suspended two days in a row… The last time I heard, Reagan hasn’t been on the ballot in 40 years and not only that, he’s not even eligible to run because he served two terms.”
A Facebook spokesperson responded to the controversy, explaining to Fox News that while there were no restrictions on the page itself, some ads had been incorrectly rejected by the platform’s automated systems. “This happened because our automated systems mistakenly determined that content about President Reagan required prior authorization in accordance with our policies for ads about Social Issues, Elections or Politics. This was a mistake and the restriction on the ads has been lifted,” the spokesperson claimed.
Quaid, still frustrated by the situation, further explained to Fox News, “I am baffled by it to tell you the truth because it was banned and they haven’t even seen the film.”
“So it seems like they don’t want other people to see the film either, I guess. But, you know, we will set up a screening for them any time and they can see for themselves. The movie is about America and the ’80s and Ronald Reagan, his life. It’s about fighting communism,” he added.
The actor also recently appeared on The Joe Rogan Experience podcast, where he criticized Facebook’s actions, labeling them as “censorship” of the upcoming movie. Quaid explained that Facebook had targeted ads for the film, claiming that the content was an attempt to sway the election.
“Since then, Facebook has said they made a mistake. They said that yesterday because we put out a letter to it in an article on Newsweek. And they said they made a mistake. It was – their automatic systems had detected it,” Quaid said.
Rogan, responding sarcastically, said, “Oh, how convenient.” Both Quaid and Rogan also speculated that if the movie had been about former President Barack Obama, Facebook might not have taken the same actions.
