Republican leaders are worried that if Facebook changes its policy and bans political ads, it could threaten President Trump’s bid for re-election, reports Axios.

So far that’s just speculation, since there’s no clear sign of that Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg will eliminate political advertising from the platform, as Twitter did this week.

But it could happen.

“Facebook says it won’t, but future regulatory pressure could change that. If Facebook were to ban — or even limit — ads, it could upend Trump’s fundraising and re-election plan,” Axios says, citing “GOP officials” who spoke privately.

“Trump relies heavily — much more so than Democrats — on targeted Facebook ads to shape views and raise money,” Axios says.

The website notes that “super plugged-in tech writer” Kara Swisher of Recode has predicted that Zuckerberg will give in, at least regarding “demonstrably false poilitcal ads.”

“He’s going to change his mind — 100% … [H]e’s done it before,” Swisher told CNBC.

Facing increased scrutiny, Facebook is considering making some changes to how it handles political ads, a source tells CNN. The company, however, appears committed to its most controversial policy in this area: allowing politicians to run false ads. https://t.co/6586P5mPPd

— CNN (@CNN) November 7, 2019

Zuckerberg says politicians should be able to post anything they want — even lies — despite criticism that such false advertising can go viral, spreading misinformation across the internet.

In a speech at Georgetown University before Twitter banned political ads, Zuckerberg defended his position as supporting freedom of expression, and said that “in the long run,” Facebook’s policy would be viewed positively. 

Some Facebook employees disagree. More than 250 of them sent Zuckerberg an open letter last week, calling his position on political advertising “a threat to what FB stands for.” However, the signers of the letter represent only a tiny fraction of Facebook’s 35,000 workers. 

Axios says the Trump campaign has spent $15.7 million dollars on Facebook ads this year, much of it going to “highly emotional appeals to get clicks and engagement, which provides valuable data on would-be voters and small-dollar donors.”

Facebook isn’t the only big social-media player considering changes to its policies: like Facebook, Google is under pressure to do something about misinformation and lies in political ads.