Zuckerberg says Facebook will now label content that violates its rules but was left up because it was deemed newsworthy and of public interest

Three weeks ago, I committed to reviewing our policies ahead of the 2020 elections. That work is ongoing, but today I want to share some new policies …

Mark Zuckerberg 2020-06-27

Context & Ripple Effects

This announcement is the first concrete output of Zuckerberg's vow three weeks earlier to review Facebook's content policies on state force and voter suppression ahead of the 2020 elections. It extends a policy line that runs back to 2018, when Facebook chose to demote borderline content rather than remove it while building an appeals body for moderation decisions.

The significance is that Facebook is no longer leaving its newsworthiness carve-out invisible: posts that break the rules but stay up will now carry a visible marker. That transparency step sets up the next move in the arc, where Facebook weighs restricting political speech outright around election results.

First-order effects

Posts violating Facebook's rules but retained as newsworthy or of public interest will now display a label, making the newsworthiness exemption visible to users instead of silent.
Zuckerberg frames this as an interim deliverable from the policy review he committed to after the voter-suppression review pledge, with more election-related changes still pending.

Second-order effects

The labeling precedent creates a middle rung between leaving content up and removing it, which feeds directly into Facebook's subsequent deliberation over rules for premature claims of election victory — a case where a label may prove too weak and restriction becomes the live option.
Publishers and public figures whose rule-breaking posts get labeled face a visible credibility cost, pressuring them to weigh whether newsworthy framing survives scrutiny when the exemption is flagged on-screen.

Third-order effects

If the pattern holds, Facebook's moderation toolkit settles into an escalating ladder — remove, demote, label, allow — replacing binary take-it-down judgments, with each rung applied differently depending on public-interest context.
A visible label on exempted content shifts the burden of judgment partly onto users, a structural answer to the fake-news backlash Zuckerberg first addressed in 2016: rather than arbitrating truth, the platform flags contested material and lets distribution and reader trust do the sorting.

The trend: Facebook's election-era policy work is converting opaque newsworthiness exemptions into graduated, visible enforcement — labels and demotions instead of silent allowances or outright removals.

Discussion

@alexeheath Alex Heath on x
Wow. Mark Zuckerberg: “We will start soon labeling some of the content we leave up because it is deemed newsworthy.” This is a big, big reversal for Facebook.
@kevinroose Kevin Roose on x
The #3 overall post on US Facebook today, with almost 200,000 shares, is a photo of a Vietnam War memorial vandalized by BLM protesters. Except the photo is from 2016, the vandals weren't BLM-affiliated, and it was debunked by a fact-checker weeks ago. https://www.politifact.com/…
@mattzeitlin Matthew Zeitlin on x
literally what twitter was doing when zuckerberg went on fox news to say that companies shouldn't be “the arbiter of truth.” https://twitter.com/...
@mikeisaac Rat King on x
pretty funny that after a month of fighting and dunking on twitter's position, this is the answer no wonder this came on a friday afternoon! https://twitter.com/...
@slpng_giants @slpng_giants on x
Weird what happens when brands start demanding greater accountability. #StopHateForProfit https://twitter.com/...
@joenbc Joe Scarborough on x
This is a weak move by a man who made $85 billion profiting off of hate, conspiracy theories, and anti-democratic posts. #StopHateForProfit https://www.washingtonpost.com/ ...
@karaswisher Kara Swisher on x
I'd say great, but honestly you get zero claps for doing the right thing after doing the wrong and damaging thing for so long: Bowing to pressure, Facebook will start labeling violating posts from politicians. But critics say it's not enough... https://www.washingtonpost.com/ ...
@markhorsleyuk Mark Horsley on x
ZUCKERBERG IS WORRIED As more and more advertisers boycott Facebook, he now says he will “ban ads that claim people from groups based on race, religion, sexual orientation or immigration status are a threat to physical safety or health.” So they were allowed before...?!? https://…
@davmicrot David Rothschild on x
Facebook turning over Global PR & Public Policy to Kavanaugh's best-friend was a bad idea. https://twitter.com/...
@profcarroll @profcarroll on x
Zuck reluctantly realizing that the media business is hard.
@samanthajpower Samantha Power on x
Zero claps. Also one step forward and two steps back: this comes the same week it is revealed that #Facebook has succumbed to pressure from fossil fuel industry and decided not to subject climate disinformation to fact checking, treating climate SCIENCE as opinion. @karaswisher h…
@beccalew Becca Lewis on x
Facebook has decided to throw Dixie cups of water on the rapidly spreading forest fire they started and continue to fuel https://twitter.com/...
@mikeisaac Rat King on x
so, per internal discussion: Trump's posts from a few weeks back — the ones that sparked the internal dissent — would not be labeled “newsworthy” since under Facebook's original decision the posts hadn't broken the rules in the first place really makes one wonder abt enforcement …
@marshallcohen Marshall Cohen on x
200,000 shares of unadulterated, already-debunked garbage. This happens every single day on Facebook. https://twitter.com/...
@marvicleonen @marvicleonen on x
Respond to people, not only advertisers. Otherwise, we privilege wealth rather than real human lives. Facebook announces new hate speech and misinformation policies amid advertiser revolt https://www.theguardian.com/ ...
@donie Donie O'Sullivan on x
lol, @jack retweeting this https://twitter.com/...
@kreissdaniel Daniel Kreiss on x
Election misinformation should be removed regardless of newsworthiness. https://twitter.com/...
@northmantrader Sven Henrich on x
Losing advertisers will do that to you. https://twitter.com/...
@hshaban Hamza Shaban on x
Facebook finding new ways to explicitly articulate editorial values and judgments while simultaneously maintaining that it is not a media company with publishing discretion and decision-making that resembles a news outlet: https://twitter.com/...
@alexhern Alex Hern on x
Jack Dorsey having fun with this one. https://twitter.com/...
@danprimack Dan Primack on x
Or, put another way, exactly what Zuckerberg criticized @jack for doing. https://twitter.com/...
@mccarthyryanj Ryan McCarthy on x
Facebook has fought so hard to avoid being called a media company or a publisher, but it will now apply a “newsworthy” tag to some posts that violate its policies. Full text of Zuck's speech today. https://www.facebook.com/... https://twitter.com/...
@jesselehrich Jesse Lehrich on x
can Facebook provide examples of posts they've left up only for public interest? Zuck has explicitly said Trump's looting/shooting posts & voting disinfo *do not* violate their rules, so they wouldn't have labeled them anyways. https://www.facebook.com/... https://twitter.com/...
@dylanbyers Dylan Byers on x
What Mark Zuckerberg just said on the live stream, now in written form: https://www.facebook.com/... Most notably, Facebook will start to label content that it leaves up because newsworthiness outweighs potential harm.
@adegrandpre Andrew deGrandpre on x
Mark Zuckerberg just announced that Facebook will begin labeling ‘newsworthy’ content — including from politicians — that violates the company's policies, ‘if the public interest value outweighs the risk of harm.’ https://www.facebook.com/...
@jesselehrich Jesse Lehrich on x
it's actually impressive that you can manage to say *nothing* in 1,200 words. https://www.facebook.com/... https://twitter.com/...
@alexhern Alex Hern on x
Should be more embarrassing than it is that Facebook set up this press conference less than an hour after Unilever announced it would be pulling all marketing from the site. You normally try to style the “money > principles” thing a bit more gracefully
@markscott82 Mark Scott on x
You know this is a big deal when Zuckerberg takes to his own FB page (start now) to talk about what steps FB is taking on racial justice & how to protect 2020 US election. Watch along here https://www.facebook.com/zuck https://twitter.com/...
@dabeard David Beard on x
Coca-Cola: We're pausing social media advertising. The announcement follows a mushrooming ban by companies on Facebook advertising for what organizers say is hate speech and polarizing content on FB. https://www.cnbc.com/... @ADL @slpng_giants
@reckless Nilay Patel on x
CEO: The pandemic has wrecked our forecasts for the year CMO: Uh oh CEO: As you know, the first thing to get cut is advertising CMO: What if I take the social media line to zero and turn that into a gigantic earned media win https://www.theverge.com/...
@davepell Dave Pell on x
Enjoy .... Democracy https://twitter.com/...
@caseynewton Casey Newton on x
Coca-Cola will pause advertising on social media for 30 days while it tries to figure out a more ethical way to give people diabetes https://twitter.com/...
@calebandrew Caleb Goellner on x
Everybody in marketing has known FB to be a fucking racket for years (so much time and money is spent arguing with reps over the validity of reporting data), plus they're basically supervillains, so this is okay to watch unfold: https://www.engadget.com/...
@wongmjane @wongmjane on x
I think ad platforms need Coca-Cola more than Coca-Cola needs ads https://twitter.com/...
@andrewhorowitz Andrew Horowitz on x
Seems like a convenient time to finally stop advertising on the sewer media - long time coming. https://www.cnbc.com/...
@levis Levi's&reg on x
Facebook must take actions to stop misinformation and hate speech on its platforms. It is an unacceptable affront to our values. We and @Dockers are joining the #StopHateForProfit campaign and pausing all ads on @Facebook and @Instagram. https://www.levistrauss.com/ ...
@slpng_giants @slpng_giants on x
CONFIRMED: @LEVIS and @Dockers have joined the #StopHateForProfit campaign and will pause all advertising on Facebook and Instagram through at least the month of July. https://twitter.com/...
@shannoncoulter Shannon Coulter on x
I hate to say it, but the #StopHateForProfit campaign is essentially just helping corporations launder their press releases at this point. Exactly zero companies can confirm they'r actually pulling 100% of their spending from FB. https://gizmodo.com/...
@shannoncoulter Shannon Coulter on x
**whispers** zero companies have pulled their Facebook ad spend. They just moved it around. https://gizmodo.com/...
@slpng_giants @slpng_giants on x
This is a good point and we will be attempting to clarify whether brands joining the #StopHateForProfit campaign will also be stopping their advertising spend on the Facebook Audience Network, the adtech division of Facebook. https://twitter.com/...
@matthewstoller Matt Stoller on x
Turns out brands aren't going to stop funneling money through Facebook's platforms, story via @swodinsky. But the boycotts do show there is the leverage for policy changes, if that's where the movement wants to go. https://gizmodo.com/...
@dellcam Dell Cameron Blm on x
the #StopHateForProfit campaign needs to more closely examine what companies are actually promising to do before promoting them as change agents https://twitter.com/...
@adl @adl on x
The time for @Facebook to act is now. Mark Zuckerberg's response today was not enough. READ our recommended steps ⬇️ https://twitter.com/...
@govhowarddean Howard Dean on x
If I were a major ex advertiser I would hold course. Zuckerberg's statements have not been reliable in the past. Give them a month or two to see if Facebook will really change or if this is just more cosmetics. https://twitter.com/...
@jgreenblattadl Jonathan Greenblatt on x
Companies are telling Facebook it's time to #StopHateForProfit. Today, Mark Zuckerberg responded with small changes that don't adequately address #hate & misinformation. If @Facebook was serious, they would've announced the following long-rejected steps: https://www.stophateforpr…
@julianbking Julian King on x
Platforms listen more to advertisers than to Governments, apparently https://twitter.com/...
@marietjeschaake Marietje Schaake on x
After having had all the freedom in the world to do so, and democratic governments having squandered the opportunity to make the rule of law leading in speech online, the core business of Facebook: advertising, shows money talks as boycotts lead to a step to #StopHateForProfit ↘️…
@ianbetteridge Ian Betteridge on x
The question really should be what the hell were they doing accepting ads which included hate speech in the first place. What goes through someone's mind to do that? https://www.cnbc.com/...
@omgno2trump John Oberlin on x
How on earth can it be news that Facebook is going to ban hate speach in their paid adds? I though hate speach was a crime? How could Facebook allow anyone to buy their way online for hate speach? That is so far beyond deplorable it's staggering. https://www.cnbc.com/...
@arjunbasu Arjun Basu on x
The ads are only a small part of the problem. https://twitter.com/...
@travismockfler @travismockfler on x
For the thousandth time, the primary issue with hate speech and disinformation on Facebook is that it runs rampant in *organic content* and Facebook isn't really doing anything about it. https://twitter.com/...
@saychieeef Chief on x
As major firms cut advertising. Put that in the headline. It means that there was never any sense of principle but business. We all knew it. But now we have the proof. Facebook is as principled as its income allowed it to be. https://twitter.com/...
@yossigestetner Yossi Gestetner on x
Among the changes, Facebook will start to label items; same concept deployed by Twitter. https://www.cnbc.com/...
@chetfaliszek Chet Faliszek on x
This took how much work? How many threats? A boycott? This is like a state in America just banning slavery this year. It's nice but why in the hell did it take you so long to get here? https://twitter.com/...
@jason_kint Jason Kint on x
I would be embarrassed to have made this announcement. https://twitter.com/...
@mikeisaac Rat King on x
am in the minority opinion that facebooks announcements today aren't exactly earth shattering policies mean little until they're enforced, and that track record is pretty spotty (Also would love to know click through rate on fact checks of viral false info)
@shiraovide Shira Ovide on x
These seem pretty sensible in principle. And, as usual, policies don't matter if you don't enforce them. https://about.fb.com/...
@megancgraham Meg Graham on x
Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg on Friday said the company will change its policies to prohibit hate speech in its advertisements. He didn't directly address those ad boycotts. https://www.cnbc.com/...
@twadhwa Tarun Wadhwa on x
It took an advertiser boycott for Mark Zuckerberg to decide to stop accepting money for ads that promote hate speech. What a disgraceful way to make decisions. https://www.cnbc.com/...
@tiffkhsu Tiffany Hsu on x
Unilever on pulling U.S. ad spending from Facebook, Instagram and Twitter for at least the rest of the year, “during this polarized election period”: “Continuing to advertise on these platforms at this time would not add value to people and society.” https://twitter.com/...
@jgreenblattadl Jonathan Greenblatt on x
Well this just made #Shabbat that much sweeter. Thank you @Hersheys for joining #StopHateforProfit and standing w/@ADL @NAACP @ColorofChange @CommonSense and others to push Facebook to take a stand for racial justice and to push back on on bigotry. https://www.businessinsider.com…
@hondainclusion @hondainclusion on x
For the month of July, American Honda is withholding its advertising on Facebook and Instagram. We choose to stand with people united against hate and racism. This is in alignment with our company's values, which are grounded in human respect. #StopHateForProfit
@slpng_giants @slpng_giants on x
CONFIRMED: WOW! ⁦@unileverusa⁩ has joined the #StopHateForProfit campaign and will stop advertising on Facebook platforms through the end of 2020. https://www.wsj.com/...
@unilever @unilever on x
We have taken the decision to stop advertising on @Facebook, @Instagram & @Twitter in the US. The polarized atmosphere places an increased responsibility on brands to build a trusted & safe digital ecosystem. Our action starts now until the end of 2020. https://www.unileverusa.co…
@nickwingfield Nick Wingfield on x
Brands pausing social media advertising is the new reporters taking a break from Twitter.
@caseynewton Casey Newton on x
Very cynical take: ad budgets are shrinking already during the pandemic. Why not get some applause for it? https://twitter.com/...
@anthony @anthony on x
Unilever said it would halt U.S. advertising on Facebook joining a growing list including Verizon Communications Inc., Patagonia Inc., North Face, and Eddie Bauer citing Facebook's inaction on hate speech https://www.wsj.com/...
@mrsmaxdewinter Cynthia Lansing on x
“Twitter has mostly avoided the controversy, in part because it put a warning label on Trump's incendiary tweets.” Facebook just lost one of the biggest advertisers in the world for the rest of 2020 https://www.nbcnews.com/... via @nbcnews
@dwnews @dwnews on x
Shares of Facebook and Twitter plummeted 7% on Friday following a decision from consumer giant Unilever to pull US advertisements until the end of the year. https://p.dw.com/p/3ePk5
@b_fung Brian Fung on x
Candy company Hershey's says it's joining the #StopHateForProfit campaign. In addition, the company said it will slash its ad budget on Facebook's platform by a third for the rest of the year. Their statement to CNN: https://twitter.com/...
@karaswisher Kara Swisher on x
If Facebook uses the lame excuse “we know we have more work to do” one more time, I am going to be irked. And you wouldn't like me when I'm irked. https://www.nytimes.com/...
@carolecadwalla Carole Cadwalladr on x
WHOAH!! The @Detox_Facebook campaign & #StopHateForProfit has scored a major hit...with an instant response from Mark Zuckerberg. Extraordinary. Unilever controls some of biggest brands in world https://twitter.com/...
@georgeslefo George P. Slefo on x
Just in: Honda's U.S. division becomes the first automaker to join the Facebook ad boycott. https://adage.com/...
@nancyscola Nancy Scola on x
Another interesting aspect: on the other side of the boycott is a marriage of ‘old-school’ civil rights orgs with gravitas — like @NAACP — and Internet activists, namely @slpng_giants, who have figured out how to leverage social media to trigger corporate action. That's new. http…
@eiffeltyler Tyler McCall on x
I hate to be cynical about this but if the economy is down and people need to pull back advertising budgets, this does seem like a good way to make cuts disguised as awareness, no? https://twitter.com/...
@profcarroll @profcarroll on x
even “the car that sells itself” is boycotting fb ads https://twitter.com/...
@ianbetteridge Ian Betteridge on x
Unilever's marketing spend last year was $7.2 billion. This is a big deal. https://twitter.com/...
@slpng_giants @slpng_giants on x
CONFIRMED: BIG! @Honda has joined the #StopHateForProfit campaign and will pause their advertising on Facebook platforms. https://twitter.com/...
@dylanbyers Dylan Byers on x
Facebook critics won't buy this, but the last 10% of hate speech is actually really hard — because AI can't identify it as easily as it can nudity or terrorist content, and more importantly definitions of “hate” are more complicated, esp if you're trying to maintain open platform…
@georgeslefo George P. Slefo on x
Excluding Instagram, Unilever spent $43 million on Facebook ads in 2019. Unilever's big global rival, Procter & Gamble, has so far declined to join a Facebook boycott. https://adage.com/...
@lorakolodny Lora Kolodny on x
1/ Can't stop thinking about FB saying, “We do not make policy changes tied to revenue pressure.” But policies are part of product design, UXP. And yes, they will change if enough paying customers pressure them, i.e. leave, until changes are made. https://www.cnbc.com/...
@kantrowitz Alex Kantrowitz on x
I'm still skeptical it will lead to any real change, but the advertiser boycott of Facebook is beginning to look like a movement
@arjunbasu Arjun Basu on x
Now P&G. https://twitter.com/...
@stopfundinghate @stopfundinghate on x
This is really gathering momentum now... https://twitter.com/...
@firefox @firefox on x
We stopped advertising on Facebook in 2018, not because we thought our tiny budgets were going to break their bottom line, but to send a message: people come before profits. So excited to see lots of other companies doing the same. https://twitter.com/...
@carpenoctom Josh Olszewicz on x
love it or hate it, $FB feeling the power of the advertising purse https://twitter.com/...
@ferrotv Jonathan Ferro on x
Joining Verizon and others, which will likely put pressure on their competition to do the same thing. This one can snowball quick... https://twitter.com/...
@jason_kint Jason Kint on x
Right. Unilever alone probably means a loss of $150mm - $250mm in revenue for Facebook rest of year. https://twitter.com/...
@mikeisaac Rat King on x
Facebook comment on the unilever thing: https://twitter.com/...
@jason_kint Jason Kint on x
Cynical take & wrong. They're shrinking, Casey - some even down 30%. But almost all incremental spend in budgets was going to FB and Goog last 4yrs. Pulling out of Facebook/Instagram rest of year is a serious move and will shift share to more trusted environments. I hear u but...…
@colmogorman Colm O'Gorman on x
Informative thread. Watch the videos referencing Facebooks failure to remove posts which clearly contravened their rules, and which promoted murder and hate crimes. With horrific consequences. https://twitter.com/...
@markscott82 Mark Scott on x
Oh man, this takes the social media ad boycott to a whole new level. @Unilever estimated marketing/brand spend per year: $7.3bn (but not just on social media) https://www.bloomberg.com/...
@sallyshin Sally Shin on x
here is more from @claireatki here: Unilever is one of the largest advertisers in the world. Wonder if its rival and the largest advertiser, P&G will follow suit. Facebook is down more than 7%... https://www.nbcnews.com/...
@darakerr Dara Kerr on x
Wow, this is big. Unilever, which spent more than $11.8 million on Facebook ads in the US so far this year, is also joining the boycott https://www.cnbc.com/...
@jason_kint Jason Kint on x
🙏🏽 really, really want to thank the leadership of Unilever. Making this move and through the end of the year is absolutely the kind of leadership needed across the marketing community. It's a positive trust signal for every one of their brands. Well done. https://twitter.com/...
@dylanbyers Dylan Byers on x
This is important. We might just see a freeze across the major buyers who say to Facebook and Twitter, a pox on all your houses til post-Election. https://twitter.com/...
@nancyscola Nancy Scola on x
Unilever was one of the ‘big fish’ companies the Facebook boycott organizers were most eager to land. A lesson from past boycotts is categories follow each other, and this opens up the door to others in its class — pretty much every other multinational consumer product giant. htt…
@nancyscola Nancy Scola on x
Also, what Facebook's worried about here really isn't revenue — it's reputation. Goes without saying that Facebook *needs* advertisers, and advertisers coming to the conclusion that it's too costly to be on Facebook is an existential threat. https://twitter.com/...
@samsabin923 Sam Sabin on x
This is huge. Unilever is pulling advertisements from Facebook, Instagram and Twitter through at least the end of the year and joining the #StopHateForProfit boycott. For reference, Unilever brands include Dove soap, Hellmann's mayo, Lipton tea and many more! https://twitter.com/…
@dinasrinivasan Dina Srinivasan on x
This is now getting interesting. from @VranicaWSJ https://twitter.com/...
@asharma Amol Sharma on x
Unilever, owner of brands from Dove to Hellmann's to Lipton, will halt U.S. ads on Facebook and Twitter for the rest of 2020, an escalation in Madison Avenue's pressure on tech companies. Scoop from @VranicaWSJ. Full story to come. https://www.wsj.com/... via @WSJ
@jeffjarvis Jeff Jarvis on x
They're not trying to change anything at Facebook or Twitter. They are—as ever—running away from controversy & the forces allying against free expression gave them an excuse. They don't want to be near the public conversation. They have have. Chicken. https://www.wsj.com/...
@johnbattelle John Battelle on x
OK. THIS is a very, very big deal. From a revenue standpoint, it's not going to matter to Facebook. But the optics, following on the heels of Verizon, means the war room at FB HQ just got very, very busy. https://www.wsj.com/...
@slpng_giants @slpng_giants on x
CONFIRMED: BOOM! @verizon has joined the #StopHateForProfit campaign and will pause their advertising on Facebook platforms until their policies on hate and disinformation change! https://twitter.com/...
@sarafischer Sara Fischer on x
Yes, but: - FB current crisis resembles 2018 YouTube ad boycott - After a year, many advertisers that boycotted, including big names like P&G, returned - YouTube still an ad powerhouse, bringing in roughly $15 billion annually Bottom line: This won't kill FB, but PR nightmare htt…
@jason_kint Jason Kint on x
Bingo. I knew I recognized the name of the Facebook executive trying to convince advertisers not to join #StopHateForProfit in this report. Advertisers, please watch these three clips from hearing last year. ⁦@b_fung⁩ ⁦@MsHannahMurphy⁩ /1 https://www.cnn.com/...
@passantino Jon Passantino on x
Verizon becomes the biggest company yet to yank ads from Facebook over its handling of misinformation and hate speech https://www.cnbc.com/...
@shachar_baron Shachar Bar-On on x
As @Verizon said in their old ad campaign: “Can you hear me now?” Facebook - time to listen https://twitter.com/...
@jgreenblattadl Jonathan Greenblatt on x
Amazing news. Thank you @verizon for joining the fight against hate and bigotry by pausing your advertising on Facebook's platforms. This is how we make real change. By coming together and telling Facebook it's time to #StopHateForProfit. https://stophateforprofit.org/ https://tw…

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