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Facebook Censored Dennis Quaid’s REAGAN Biopic — He Responds

Facebook Censored Dennis Quaid’s REAGAN Biopic — He Responds

By Movieguide® Contributor

Facebook admitted wrongdoing after Dennis Quaid exposed the platform for censoring posts about his upcoming Ronald Reagan biopic.

“This happened because our automated systems mistakenly determined that content about Ronald Reagan required prior authorization in accordance with our policies for ads about Social Issues, Elections or Politics,” a Facebook spokesperson said. “This was a mistake and the restriction on the ads has been lifted.”

This censorship occurred after Meta — Facebook’s parent company — announced earlier this year it would be limiting political content across its platforms to play less of a role in this year’s elections. It took this step in a controversial way by introducing a setting that restricted political content from reaching users unless they followed the person who made the post. This setting, however, was on by default and added to Meta’s sites without any notification to users.

“It seems to be automated [to censor conservatives] for some reason…this happened several times actually, and we were suspended for two days in a row…But last time I heard, Reagan hasn’t been on the ballot for 40 years,” Quaid joked during an interview with Fox News. “Not only is he not on the ballot, but he is totally ineligible because he has served two terms.”

“I’m baffled by it, to tell you the truth, because it was banned, and they haven’t even seen the film,” he continued. “So it seems like they don’t want people to see the film either, I guess. But, you know, we’ll set up a screening for them, and they can see for themselves. The movie is about America in the ’80s and Ronald Reagan and his life and it’s about fighting communism.”

While Quaid is now able to promote his movie on Facebook after the platform allowed it to penetrate its automatic system, he believes he still needs to speak up to hold Facebook accountable and represent those getting censored who don’t have a national platform.

“Reagan said that the freedoms that we take for granted can be lost in a generation. Censorship like this, coupled with our silent assent, is a cautionary indication that we could be in danger of losing those freedoms,” Quaid said.

“I fear — this seems like tech oligarchs, you know, who are sitting at the top telling us what we should hear and what we should see,” he added. “That doesn’t go over well in America, it never has. I think we need to be really aware of it because by being silent about it, that’s how we lose things one little thing at a time, you know. And it adds up over time and you’re gonna lose the freedom of speech.”

REAGAN hits theaters starting Aug. 30.

Movieguide® previously reported:

Dennis Quaid is proud to portray Ronald Reagan, one of America’s greatest presidents, in the upcoming biopic REAGAN.

“He became president at the exact right moment in history,” Quaid said of our nation’s 40th president while on Mike Rowe’s podcast. “In this country, we’d been through Watergate, went through all that. Jimmy Carter came along, who I voted for by the way. He was honest. There was this kind of like this becoming a man thing.”

“It was also the times with oil and gas, and there was a malaise that took over this country,” Quaid added. “He [Reagan] even said so on television, about the malaise that had taken over and we were a country in decline. That started from the Vietnam era and Reagan came along and it was the perfect time. He told us, ‘There’s a light and America is a beacon on a hill.’”

However, Quaid was initially unsure about accepting the role.


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