Facebook better think twice before openly influencing the outcome of the election again, especially as a slew of states have counteracted the social media giant via the legislative process.
The Center for Tech and Civic Life, which is not only funded, but also founded by Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg, poured at least $400M into varied elections in 2020.
Most of these funds were dedicated to blue states or blue counties, all in a bid to allegedly increase voter turnout and improve the Democrats’ odds of winning.
These funds could be used for literally any purpose, and they have the great potential to be abused for ballot harvesting efforts.
However, following the shocking outcome of the most recent presidential election.
According to the National Conference of State Legislatures, several states have passed laws limiting the influence of outside funding in elections.
“Currently, over one-third of the states have passed laws prohibiting or limiting the use of private funds in elections. Eleven states did so in 2021 (similar bills were vetoed in Louisiana, Michigan, North Carolina, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin that year), and 13 states followed suit in 2022,” the NCSL reports.
Shame such laws were not passed before 2020.
“The specifics vary, with some states passing outright bans on election officials accepting or using philanthropic funds and others setting new regulations on how and when such funding can be accepted,” the organization continued.
And one state that has taken a particularly strong approach against the influence of Big Tech is Georgia.
Indeed, $45M worth of so-called “ZuckBucks” were poured into Georgia alone for the 2020 race, which is highly suspicious to say the least.
Which is precisely why Georgia Senate Bill 222 was recently ratified.
Georgia Senate Bill 222 is expressly designed to prevent the influence of social media platforms, as explicitly detailed in the following text:
“A BILL to be entitled an Act to amend Chapter 2 of Title 21 of the O.C.G.A, relating to primaries and elections generally, so as to provide that all costs and expenses relating to election administration are paid for with lawfully appropriate public funds; to provide for related matters; to provide an effective date; to repeal conflicting laws; and for other purposes.”
“Lawfully appropriate public funds.” Love it. Clearly not the type of funds that come from Big Tech.
Former U.S. Senator Kelly Loeffler certainly sees the value in such laws, especially given how many are keen to disrupt elections in Democrats’ favor.
“[This bill] builds on previous law to ensure that our election operations are never bought and paid for by partisan or special interests,” Loeffler proclaimed.
One can only hope this approach will continue in 2024.
Author: Jane Jones
