Facebook Intends to Crack Down on Bullying Politicians: Report

Jakub Porzycki/NurPhoto/Zuma

Let our journalists help you make sense of the noise: Subscribe to the Mother Jones Daily newsletter and get a recap of news that matters.Facebook intends to reverse the policy that exempts politicians from content moderation on its platform, the Verge reports. The social media giant’s decision comes weeks after its oversight board criticized the lack of standards guiding the company’s decision to ban former President Donald Trump.
Facebook has avoided moderating the speech of elected officials, it argues, because their public statements are inherently newsworthy. The policy was criticized as giving politicians carte blanche to sow disinformation, especially in the wake of Trump’s false claims of election fraud and his alleged incitement of the January 6 MAGA mob in the nation’s Capitol.
The new policy still won’t subject politicians’ posts to fact-check reviews, the Verge reports, but it will allow moderators to enforce Facebook’s rules against behavior such as bullying. Exactly how this will work in practice remains to be seen.