Actor Dennis Quaid, who stars in the upcoming biopic about President Ronald Reagan, has accused Facebook of limiting the promotion of the film ahead of its August 30 theater release. Quaid expressed his frustration in an email to Newsweek, stating, “Facebook is once again censoring the free flow of ideas, deciding what’s best for us to see and hear; only this time it’s throttling advertising and promotion for my movie about Ronald Reagan.”
Eric McClellan, the film’s director of digital marketing, also voiced concerns in a letter to Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg, highlighting “numerous problems” encountered while trying to “boost” or post content related to the film, titled Reagan.
McClellan pointed to a particularly “egregious” example where a post featuring an image of Quaid as Reagan, along with a quote from the former president, was allowed on the platform but blocked from being boosted through paid ads. The quote read: “Don’t let anyone tell you that America’s best days are behind her—that the American spirit has been vanquished. We’ve seen it triumph too often in our lives not to believe it now.”
Facebook reportedly flagged the post as being about “politicians or sensitive issues that could influence public opinion, how people vote, and may impact the outcome of an election or pending legislation.” Quaid criticized this decision, comparing it to censorship, and suggested that Facebook is making these decisions without having seen the film. He added, “Zuckerberg is ultimately responsible for all of this because his company says it might influence the presidential election, but the last time Ronald Reagan’s name was on the ballot was 40 years ago.”
Earlier in May, the film’s team posted a clip of Quaid on Jordan Peterson’s podcast, which Facebook also restricted from being boosted, citing reasons related to social issues, elections, or politics. McClellan mentioned that after trying to boost the post, Facebook warned that such actions could result in the account being disabled or suspended, and indeed, the page was temporarily suspended after another incident involving an interview with Quaid and Patrick Bet-David.
Quaid questioned whether similar tactics were applied to other recent presidential biopics like Lincoln, LBJ, or Southside with You, a film about President Barack Obama, which was released during an election year.