If you agree @facebook is stronger than the NRA, and the US cannot regulate guns, do you really think Facebook is going to get regulated any time soon in this aftermath of #FacebookDataBreach?
The power of @facebook to manipulate voters is almost limitless. A case in point: Facebook wanted to launch “Free Basics” in India in 2014-16. The idea was simple: FB will work with Indian telecom providers to pay for a free, limited version of the internet in India.
This would've made @facebook effectively the gatekeeper of the Indian internet. Needless to say, the net neutrality proponents vehemently rejected it. Not seeing a path forward, in May 2015, Facebook announced that the platform would be open to sites that met _its_ criteria. Ok.
Later that year, TRAI (the Indian telecom regulator) put out a consultation paper to seek public opinion on the matter. @facebook resorted to full front-page newspaper ads and borderline dark-pattern tricked users in the FB app to send the regulator an email on their behalf. 
Needless to say, the Indian Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) called it a crudely majoritarian and orchestrated opinion poll. Which is what it was.
In January 2016, TRAI criticized Facebook for its misleading commercials and astroturfing the Free Basics campaign. It also accused facebook for blocking access to TRAI's designated email for feedback on Free Basics. By February, it banned Facebook's Free Basics.
As for countries that let Facebook become the gatekeepers of their internet, 65% of Nigerians, and 61% of Indonesians agree with the statement that "Facebook is the Internet" compared with only 5% in the US. Sources at: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Free_Basi…
Facebook hasn’t had to resort to manipulating the US populace with such tactics so far. If you think if push comes to shove, it won’t, then you may want to reconsider. The flywheel of capitalism is impossible to slow down, and we shall have growth at _all_ costs.
At the risk of sounding dystopian, it may already be too late for liberalism to prevail. This is our new reality now. Sure, the regulator is elected by you, but you don't have a say any more. Why would we be blaming @facebook for Trump otherwise?
