Leaked internal Slack conversations and email chains from a major social media platform reveal a deliberate policy of 'reduced distribution' for content from specific political viewpoints during the 2022 midterm elections.
The documents show that the company's 'Civic Integrity' team maintained a list of 'high-risk' accounts—over 15,000 in total—that were subject to algorithmic throttling. While the company publicly stated this was to prevent misinformation, internal communications suggest the criteria were far broader and included legitimate political speech.
'The definition of misinformation became so expansive that it covered anything that made our advertising partners uncomfortable,' a former content moderator told our team. 'We were told to err on the side of suppression.'
The algorithm modifications reduced reach for affected accounts by an average of 67%, according to internal testing documents. The company's own data showed that over 80% of the suppressed content was later determined to be factually accurate.
When contacted, the company stated: 'We enforce our policies consistently and transparently to protect the integrity of elections.' The leaked documents suggest otherwise.