Yesterday we reported that even as Facebook is expressing shock that Cambridge Analytica utilized the social network to harvest users' data for political targeting, the Silicon Valley company actively enabled the Obama campaign to engage in the exact same methods in 2012.
Facebook told the Obama campaign that even though they were breaking their social network's rules, Facebook chose to look the other way because the Facebook supported the Obama candidacy.
Today a leaked email shows Facebook was likewise supportive and actively helping the Clinton campaign in 2015-2016.
An email from the chairman on the Clinton campaign, John Podesta, thanked Facebook's Sheryl Sandberg for Facebook's "help."
"Wishing you a happy New Year," Podesta wrote Sandberg, according to an email published by Wikileaks. "2015 was challenging, but we ended in a good place thanks to your help and support. Look forward to working with you to elect the first woman President of the United States."
The reference to 2015 being "challenging" likely refers to the email investigation, which became public in March 2015 and dominated headlines throughout the rest of the year.
Sandberg responded that she was "thrilled" at Clinton's progress.
"I am thrilled at the progress Hillary is making," Sandberg wrote back. "Thank you for the kind thoughts. No one was more excited for this year to END than me! Onward to a new year and hopefully health and happiness for you and your family."
In another 2015 email, Sandberg wrote Podesta, asking if he might be willing to meet with Mark Zuckerberg, who was looking "to learn more about next steps for his philanthropy and social action."
Podesta replied he was "happy to."
Facebook's coziness with the Clinton camp comes after the former director of Obama for America's Integration and Media Analytics, Carol Davidsen, candidly admitted that Facebook acknowledged letting their campaign improperly access its users data.
"Facebook was surprised we were able to suck out the whole social graph, but they didn’t stop us once they realized that was what we were doing," Davidsen wrote Sunday night after news of Cambridge Analytica broke. "They came to office in the days following election recruiting & were very candid that they allowed us to do things they wouldn’t have allowed someone else to do because they were on our side."