Facebook Stops Fact-Checking Trump After He Announces Presidential Bid

Facebook reminded its fact-checkers that former President Donald Trump is off-limits after his 2024 announcement, CNN reports.

Trump is indefinitely banned from Facebook but the company’s fact-checkers still check statements made by Trump that are posted by other users.

A Meta staffer reminded fact-checkers that Trump is off-limits now that he is officially a candidate.

 “Some of you have reached out seeking guidance regarding fact-checking political speech in anticipation of a potential candidacy announcement from former President Trump,” the memo said, adding that “political speech is ineligible for fact-checking. This includes the words a politician says as well as photo, video, or other content that is clearly labeled as created by the politician or their campaign.”

Official policy:

“We define a ‘politician’ as candidates running for office, current office holders – and, by extension, many of their cabinet appointees – along with political parties and their leaders,” the memo added. “If former President Trump makes a clear, public announcement that he is running for office, he would be considered a politician under our program policies.”

Facebook defends:

The policy is not exclusive to Trump: the social platform has banned fact-checks of all politicians.

“It is not our role to intervene when politicians speak,” Meta executive Nick Clegg said in 2019.

Meta spokesperson Andy Stone told CNN that the memo was “a reiteration of our long-standing policy should not be news to anyone.”

 

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