Over the past several months, conservative groups— including associates of President Trump— were often not penalized by Facebook for violating its rules because people at the company worried about the perception of anti-conservative bias, The Washington Post reported.
The Post examined posts and ad spending along with internal Facebook documents. It found accounts that included Donald Trump Jr. and a pro-Trump super PAC were shielded from the platform’s most serious enforcement actions. For instance, according to the Post, Facebook removed a strike against Trump Jr. on Instagram — which is owned by Facebook— that would have led to him being labeled a “repeat offender” and could have meant a permanent ban under platform rules.
Facebook did not immediately reply to a request for comment from The Verge on Sunday.
Conservatives have repeatedly complained about what…