Facebook on Tuesday admitted to limiting ads for Dennis Quaid's new "Reagan" film, telling Newsweek: "While there are no restrictions on this page that would prevent the admins from posting, we did identify a handful of ads from this account that were incorrectly rejected."
"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," a Facebook spokesperson told the news outlet.
Quaid earlier this week said Facebook had been "throttling advertising" for his film, which is due out in theaters in late August.
"Facebook is once again censoring the free flow of ideas, deciding what's best for us to see and hear; only this time it's throttling advertising and promotion for my movie about Ronald Reagan," the actor said in an email to Newsweek.
"Like the old Soviet Union — are we turning into a country of tech oligarchs who control the platform of groupthink to silence the individual or 'other' groups?" he continued, noting that no one at Facebook had even seen the movie yet.
Eric McClellan, the movie's director of digital marketing, in a letter to Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg cited an "egregious" example of the social media giant's attempt to quell their advertising, specifically an ad that had a photo of Quaid with the movie's title, "Reagan," and a quote from the late president.
Facebook allowed the post to be published but didn't allow payment to "boost" it.
McClellan said Facebook responded: "[The ad] 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."
Solange Reyner ✉
Solange Reyner is a writer and editor for Newsmax. She has more than 15 years in the journalism industry reporting and covering news, sports and politics.
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