Facebook to moderate politicians’ posts in wake of Trump ban, report says
Posts by world leaders will not be fact-checked but subject to moderation for violating rules such as bullying
Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.Facebook will end its policy of exempting world leaders from moderation as they strengthen the platform’s rules in the wake of the Donald Trump ban, a report says.
The social media giant is set to announce the major policy reversal for politicians as soon as Friday, according to The Verge.
The move comes just weeks after the company’s independent Oversight Board upheld the decision to indefinitely suspend the former president’s account, but publicly stated that the “same rules should apply to all users.”
Mark Zuckerberg’s company was given until 5 June to respond to the policy recommendations given to them by the Oversight Board.
Facebook, as well as Twitter, have said publicly that they do not believe in censoring world leaders on their platforms, even if their posts would not be allowed for a regular user.
Currently Facebook exempts politicians’ posts and adverts from its third-party fact-checking programme, and it uses a “newsworthiness exemption” to allow posts that break the rules if they are in the public interest.
Under the new policy posts directly made by politicians will reportedly still not be fact-checked, but for the first time they will be subject to enforcement by moderators for things like bullying rules.
Facebook will also disclose if and when it uses the public interest exemption to keep up content from politicians or any other user, says the report.
The platform also plans to start letting users know if they receive a strike that could lead to a suspension.
Mr Trump was indefinitely suspended by Facebook following the 6 January attack on the US Capitol by his supports, who attempted to prevent the certification of Joe Biden’s November 2020 election victory.
The Oversight Board, which is made up of media, legal and other experts, supported the suspension but said the company had been wrong to make it indefinite.
It gave the company six month to come to a permanent decision over Mr trump’s suspension.
Facebook declined to comment when contacted by The Independent .
Reuters contributed to this report.
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments