
Research/Study
Trump used Facebook to amplify Fox News and its personalities. Of course the network wants him reinstated.
Trump’s suspension on Facebook severed a key path of the Trump-Fox feedback loop, preventing Fox from earning tens of millions of interactions on posts citing the network
Published
After the Facebook Oversight Board put the fate of former President Donald Trump’s account back in Facebook's hands, Fox News spent the day attacking both entities while pushing the baseless claim that social media is biased against conservatives. Fox’s reaction -- and talking points -- is of little surprise, given the symbiotic relationship between Trump and Fox; in fact, Matter Matters’ latest study shows that Trump frequently used Facebook to amplify Fox News, its programming, and its personalities.
Key findings include:
- Trump cited right-wing media outlets in roughly 868 posts between January 1, 2020, and January 6, 2021, when he was suspended from Facebook. Roughly 65% of Trump’s posts mentioning right-wing media outlets exclusively amplified Fox or Fox personalities -- including Fox News, Fox Business, shows such as Fox & Friends, or hosts such as Tucker Carlson or Sean Hannity.
- Trump exclusively cited Fox in nearly 10% of his posts -- 565 out of 6,081 -- earning roughly 50 million interactions.
- Of the roughly 99,500 total posts between January 1, 2020, and January 6, 2021, from right-leaning pages that mentioned Fox-related keywords -- the network, its shows, its hosts, and its frequent guests -- Trump accounted for less than 1% of the posts yet earned roughly 10% of all interactions.