Reuters/Alan Freed; Tom Williams/CQ Roll Call
- Bill Russo, a top advisor on President-elect Joe Biden’s press team, on Monday published a series of tweets tearing into Facebook for the disinformation that has spread on its platform since Election Day.
- Russo on Sunday also posted a retweet — which was swiftly deleted — that suggested the Biden administration may target Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg.
- Russo’s more recent Twitter thread suggests Facebook may have a tough four years dealing with the Biden administration.
- Biden said in January that he wanted to revoke Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act, a part of US law that grants sweeping liability protections to tech companies for content posted on their platforms.
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A top advisor to President-elect Joe Biden has tore into Facebook in a thread on Twitter.
“If you thought disinformation on Facebook was a problem during our election, just wait until you see how it is shredding the fabric of our democracy in the days after,” Bill Russo, a deputy communications director on Biden’s campaign press team, tweeted late on Monday.
Russo then attacked Facebook over the course of eight tweets for allowing violent and misinformative content to flourish on the platform in the week following Election Day.
He referenced a video of Steve Bannon calling for the head of Dr. Fauci on a pike and the proliferation of “Stop the Steal” Facebook groups.
—Bill Russo (@BillR) November 10, 2020
He specifically criticized Facebook’s decision to allow posts from President Trump labelled as misinformation to be widely shared — whereas Twitter placed restrictions on labeled tweets meaning they couldn’t be retweeted.
Facebook began limiting the spread of posts, rather than just flagging them, on November 5, after Election Day.
"We knew this would happen. We pleaded with Facebook for over a year to be serious about these problems. They have not. Our democracy is on the line. We need answers," Russo's thread concluded.
This isn't the first time Russo has come after Facebook. On Sunday he reposted a tweet from actor Sacha Baron Cohen with a picture of Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg shaking Donald Trump's hand, captioned "one down, one to go."
Russo added the words "Hell yeah" to his retweet, which was quickly deleted.
The fact Russo has now doubled down with a lengthy thread detailing Facebook's failures is an ominous sign for the social media giant, which now has to prepare for potential attempts to regulate it by a Biden administration.
Biden told The New York Times in January that he wanted to revoke Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act, a part of US law that grants sweeping liability protections to tech companies for content posted on their platforms.
In that interview, Biden referred to Facebook and the spread of misinformation on the platform. "It should be revoked because [Facebook] is not merely an internet company. It is propagating falsehoods they know to be false," he said.
Russo's tweets reinforce the sense that the Biden administration could make the next four years very uncomfortable for Facebook.
Facebook did not immediately respond to Business Insider's request for comment.