Dear Mark Zuckerberg, Yes, You the CEO of Meta, Facebook and Instagram

Dear Mark Zuckerberg,

I know you feel like you have been responsive to government pressure and put in proper controls regarding advertising especially political advertising; but from my end a non-incumbent candidate for California’s Assembly D21 it doesn’t feel like that at all. It feels instead as if you have chosen a former Facebook employee as your candidate to be quickly lifted up the rungs of the political ladder first as a Redwood City City Councilmember, next as CA State Assembly member and after that only you and she know what comes.

If you wonder how I could say this, I will explain. I registered to run and planned my campaign. It was to include significant advertising on social media including, of course, Facebook. The County Candidate webinar presentation made clear that political races have been getting closer and closer. Candidates that win with margins of less than one hundred votes are getting more and more common; it’s not difficult to see how much of an impact social tools like Facebook have. I posit this has to do with the fact that running for office no longer requires expensive mail campaigns, given the use of social media.

Unfortunately, these days the system seems to be reverting to its incumbent favoritism. One of the most egregious forms it has taken is the screening and rejection of candidate ad campaigns on Facebook and Instagram, citing unclear specifications to meet to qualify to advertise in the political realm. I have tried for over three months to launch an ad campaign. I have designated myself as a political candidate (the entire purpose of my page’s existence) but even though I have given the platform copies of my passport and driver’s license and the Facebook customer service has found that I have no policy violations, it continues to reject my ads based on their political nature. I am a candidate. Am I being rejected because of my opponent, a former Facebook employee? Is it discriminating against me because I am not an incumbent? Could it be thwarting my efforts because I am against SB 9 and SB10 as false promises to solve affordability? I am also in support of universal healthcare and sustainability. Is that the problem? Either way, I seek a protection of democracy on these platforms and here I see none.

Sincerely,

Tania Solé

Candidate for CA State Assembly D21

www.taniasole.com