After several weeks of top social media companies making overtures to President Donald Trump and his MAGA movement, Democrats are starting to worry: Are the most powerful online platforms becoming hostile to their politics? And can they do anything about it if they are?
NOTUS spoke with more than a dozen strategists, media buyers, lawmakers and Democratic-allied decision-makers who are involved in active conversations about how to adapt to what they see as a changing social media landscape. Social media is an increasingly important part of campaign activities and a place where Democrats spend big money trying to move the needle in their direction. There’s now worry that work is about to become harder, but they acknowledge their only real option is to wait and see.
The bind Democrats are in was neatly illustrated by Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, one of the party’s most social media-savvy players, who spent time last week fuming in an Instagram story that “every mass social media platform in the United States has been taken over by the right wing.”