{"id":164370,"date":"2019-09-25T21:10:13","date_gmt":"2019-09-25T13:10:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.geek.com\/featured\/-1805196\/"},"modified":"2019-09-25T21:10:13","modified_gmt":"2019-09-25T13:10:13","slug":"facebook-exempts-politicians-from-fact-checking","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/itteacheritfreelance.hk\/test\/wordpress\/2019\/09\/25\/facebook-exempts-politicians-from-fact-checking\/","title":{"rendered":"Facebook \u2018Exempts\u2019 Politicians From Fact Checking"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Photo Credit: Omar Marques \/ SOPA Images \/ LightRocket via Getty Images<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n

Facebook relies on third-party fact checkers to curb the spread of fake news and viral misinformation.<\/span><\/p>\n

But not all users are subject to the social network’s reviews.<\/span><\/p>\n

Speaking at the Atlantic Festival in Washington, D.C., on Tuesday, Facebook’s Vice President of Global Affairs and Communications Nick Clegg revealed<\/a> that politicians are “exempt” from inspection.<\/span><\/p>\n

“We do not submit speech by politicians to our independent fact checkers, and we generally allow it on the platform even when it would otherwise break our normal content rules,” according to Clegg.<\/span><\/p>\n

“We don’t believe,” he wrote in an accompanying blog post, “that it’s an appropriate role for us to referee political debates and prevent a politician’s speech from reaching its audience and being subject to public debate and scrutiny.”<\/span><\/p>\n

The policy\u2014”on the books for over a year now”\u2014means Facebook does not send organic content or ads from politicians to partners for review.<\/span><\/p>\n

If a lawmaker shares previously debunked material (links, photos, videos), however, that content is demoted, replaced with related information from fact checkers, and rejected from adverts.<\/span><\/p>\n

This is in keeping with Facebook’s newsworthiness exemption, introduced in 2016, which allows posts that break community standards “if we believe the public interest in seeing it outweighs the risk of harm,” Clegg said.<\/span><\/p>\n

Moving forward, the popular platform will treat speech from politicians as “newsworthy content that should, as a general rule, be seen and heard.”<\/span><\/p>\n

There are two exceptions: when speech endangers people, and when Facebook takes money (in which case posted ads must comply with community standards and advertising policies).<\/span><\/p>\n

Clegg’s speech also covered:<\/span><\/p>\n