Welcome to Axis ProRata, a podcast that takes just 10 minutes to get you smarter on the collision of tech business and politics.

I'm Dan Pramak. On today's show, why Elon Musk is in trouble again with federal regulators and the latest departure from what was once Time Warner.

But first, President Trump buys Facebook. Okay, no, not literally. He doesn't have that kind of cash, even by his own generous estimates. But his reelection campaign is spending a small fortune on Facebook ad buys and a slightly smaller fortune on Google ad buys, according to data shared with Axios this morning by Brand Communications firm bully pulpit. It is the most. Any presidential candidate has ever spent on ads at the stage

of a campaign and easily dwarfed the spending of his Democratic challengers. So just to put it in

context, Trump has paid out $4.5 million to Facebook and Google just in 2019, while the most any Democrat

has spent is $595,000.

And that number came from Elizabeth Warren, who, like President Trump, dislikes Facebook and Google's business models, but is eager to leverage it for voter support.

It's also worth noting that while Trump's 2020 campaign manager is somebody known for

analytics and audience targeting, much of his spend so far has been kind of this national

blanket with just some small

targeted ad buys in swing states like Florida. The Democrats seem to be doing the same,

particularly given their early fundraising and name recognition needs. The bottom line here,

we're headed toward another social media election, despite all of the hand-wringing from 2016

about fake news and filter bubbles. And what that means is that companies like Facebook are going to be winners, no matter which candidate gets the most votes.

In 15 seconds, we'll go deeper with Axios media reporter Sarah Fisher.

But first, this.

Axios chief technology correspondent, Enah Freed, shares breaking news and analysis on the most consequential companies and players in tech from the Valley to D.C.

Subscribe to get smarter faster at signup.axios.com. And now back to the pro rata podcast.

We're joined now by Axios media reporter Sarah Fisher. So Sarah, both Trump and the Democratic

candidates are spending more on Facebook than on Google so far.

Is Facebook the better platform for them?

I think that's what we're seeing.

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