Actor Dennis Quaid said that Facebook has been “throttling advertising” for his upcoming film, “Reagan,” due out in theaters in late August.
In a letter sent to Newsweek, Quaid said, “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.”
“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.
In addition to Quaid’s complaints on the issue, director of digital marketing Eric McClellan sent a letter directly to Mark Zuckerberg. In the letter, he cited a particularly “egregious” example of Facebook’s attempt to quell their advertising.
The ad in question, McClellan wrote, was nothing more than a photo of Quaid with the movie’s title, “Reagan,” and a quote from the late President Ronald Reagan: “Don’t let anyone tell you that America’s best days are behind her—that the American spirit has been vanquished. We’ve seen it triumph too often in our lives not to believe it now.”
According to Newsweek, Facebook did allow them to publish the post – but refused to allow them to pay to “boost” it in order to achieve a greater reach. The reason given for the denial, McClellan said, was as follows: [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.”
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“Zuckerberg is ultimately responsible for all of this because his company says it might influence the presidential election, but the last time Ronald Reagan’s name was on the ballot was 40 years ago,” Quaid added. “My challenge to Facebook is to ask if any of these tactics were used against other recent presidential biopics like ‘Lincoln,’ ‘LBJ,’ or ‘Southside with You,’ a film about President Barack Obama, which was also released during an election year.”
“Reagan” is scheduled for release in theaters on August 30.
Dennis Quaid reminds us of ‘Reagan Democrats’ during his presidency. REAGAN in theaters August 30th. pic.twitter.com/k5tkdyiJP1
— Reagan The Movie (@ReaganMovie) August 7, 2024