Sources: Facebook plans to end its controversial policy that shields politicians from the content moderation rules that apply to other users

Going forward politicians will be treated more like everyone else — Facebook plans to end its controversial policy that mostly shields politicians …

The Verge 2021-06-04 Alex Heath

Context & Ripple Effects

Facebook's reported reversal follows a period of differentiated treatment for political speech: it had said it would not moderate Trump differently after he left office, even as Twitter planned to end special treatment. The subsequent announcement applying harmful-speech rules to politicians turns that stance into an explicit policy change.

The move also breaks with Facebook's earlier use of political-content exceptions, including limits on disclosure rules for politically funded sites and exemptions for some news outlets in political-ad archives.

First-order effects

Politicians on Facebook become subject to the same harmful-speech rules as other users, removing the policy shield that had governed their posts.
Facebook's moderation teams must apply and defend enforcement decisions against political accounts under its ordinary rules rather than a separate public-interest exception.

Second-order effects

Twitter's stated plan to end special treatment for former officeholders gains a direct peer comparison, increasing pressure for platforms to explain any remaining differences in how political accounts are handled.
Political actors and publishers that benefited from Facebook's earlier political-content carve-outs face a less predictable boundary between ordinary speech enforcement and platform-specific exceptions.

Third-order effects

The policy points toward political speech being governed through general platform rules rather than categorical status exemptions, making consistency in enforcement the central test for major social platforms.
If platforms continue retiring political carve-outs while retaining narrower advertising or publisher exceptions, content governance is likely to shift from broad exemptions to more contested, rule-by-rule distinctions.

The trend: Major social platforms are moving away from blanket political-account exemptions and toward applying general moderation rules to high-profile speakers.

Discussion

@alexeheath Alex Heath on x
Breaking: Facebook plans to stop shielding politicians from the content rules it applies to everyone else, a sharp reversal from its position that all speech from elected officials is inherently newsworthy. Could have big ramifications globally! https://www.theverge.com/...
@evelyndouek Evelyn Douek on x
there should be a rule that for every 5 pieces people write about Facebook's policies on this, journalists ask YouTube at least once what's going on
@oneunderscore__ Ben Collins on x
These are very good changes, especially the ones where Facebook tells its users when and why pages have strikes against it. Transparency cuts off a lot of conspiracy theories and at least some claims of bias at the knees. https://twitter.com/...
@karissabe Karissa Bell on x
“Facebook also plans to shed light on the secretive system of strikes it gives accounts for breaking its content rules” 👀 facebook will also end special treatment for politicians according to @alexeheath https://www.theverge.com/...
@brandonrichards Brandon Richards on x
Uhhh .... this still seems ... not great. “Under Facebook's new policies, posts made directly by politicians still won't be subject to review by the company's network of independent fact checkers.” https://www.theverge.com/...
@karaswisher Kara Swisher on x
The Nevermind Pivot https://www.nytimes.com/...
@donwinslow Don Winslow on x
WTF took so long. #DeleteFacebookNow Facebook Plans to End Hands-Off Approach to Politicians' Posts https://www.nytimes.com/...
@rmac18 Ryan Mac🙃 on x
The internal line among FB execs has always been about coming off as principled even in the face of criticism from whatever side of the political spectrum. It's hard to project that image tho when the company keeps changing the rules. https://twitter.com/...
@jesselehrich Jesse Lehrich on x
long overdue, but also sounds like a half-measure... politicians are still exempt from fact-checking!? https://twitter.com/...
@dellcam Dell Cameron on x
If I were a betting man... https://twitter.com/...
@mikebutcher Mike Butcher on x
This is at LEAST 5 years too late, but once again it shows that Facebook has enormous, global, unrestricted power. https://twitter.com/...
@brandyzadrozny Brandy Zadrozny on x
Facebook adopting new policies in response to Oversight Board reccos. https://twitter.com/...
@iwriteok Robert Evans on x
what I interpret from this is that Facebook had concluded banning Trump did not hurt their bottom line, and probably helped it by making people less angry / agitated. That's the only reason they'd roll out more accountability to other politicians. https://twitter.com/...
@yaeleisenstat Yael Eisenstat on x
1/ A few years too late, but important nonetheless. Maybe those things I wanted to do when Facebook hired me to lead elections integrity Ops for ads—hold politicians to the same standard as everyone else—will finally happen. As a reminder, I wrote about this after I left (thread)…
@mattnavarra Matt Navarra on x
This is a big deal. Huge shift in policy by Facebook https://www.theverge.com/...
@craigsilverman Craig Silverman on x
Some important changes coming at Facebook: https://twitter.com/...
@alexeheath Alex Heath on x
Other changes Facebook plans to announce as soon as tomorrow: - Will disclose its secretive strikes system for policy violations to users for the first time - Will also begin disclosing when it uses a special newsworthiness exemption in transparency reports
@sanjanah Sanjana Hattotuwa on x
Win for @MiraSissons & team at #Facebook, harmonising a more comprehensive, coherent, rights-based approach to oversight across ecosystem. Still, remarkable degree to which company controlled by US (political) interests, with tone-deafness to other contexts (& bigger markets).
@wendyvia Wendy Via on x
I hope this is true. Facebook's exceptions for Trump and other politically powerful have led to violence and deaths and the undermining of democracies across the globe. Facebook to end special treatment for politicians after Trump ban https://www.theverge.com/... via @Verge
@diakayyali @diakayyali on x
BIG NEWS! Can't wait to see Facebook's announcement about all of this. And can't wait to see Facebook kick off Bolsonaro and BJP politicians (I might be waiting a long time). https://www.vice.com/... https://twitter.com/...
@noupside Renee DiResta on x
Re-evaluating the newsworthiness exemption! This is what I and others hoped would be the more expansive precedent/takeaway from the Trump case. https://twitter.com/... https://twitter.com/...
@sarahfrier Sarah Frier on x
much easier to take this stance when you're not at high risk of having to silence a world leader with the power to regulate you https://twitter.com/...
@jeremarketer Jeremy Goldman on x
This is a huge move and ultimately it's such a fraught decision but I still think it's probably the right call. https://www.nytimes.com/...
@blackamazon @blackamazon on x
Facebook and OB still trying to make decisions on high so everybody doesn't deal with what brought us here .. More concerned at this point with methodology over actual decision https://twitter.com/...
@klonick Kate Klonick on x
If you want the full poop of how the First Amendment concepts of public figures and newsworthiness have been used as a fuzzy-subjective-escape hatch for content moderation policy I literally wrote the story & analyzed it for @knightcolumbia in 2018: https://knightcolumbia.org/...…
@carolecadwalla Carole Cadwalladr on x
Facebook comms doing its usual trick of strategically leaking to single friendly journalist ahead of a big news day? Or a chance discovery of a sheaf of documents found on a bus? https://twitter.com/...
@daveyalba Davey Alba on x
interesting development, but what we don't yet know is how evenly facebook applies this policy around the world. inconsistent enforcement by fb is not a new issue! https://www.theverge.com/...
@yaeleisenstat Yael Eisenstat on x
Mea culpa. Jumped too fast to say maybe Facebook will finally do the right thing & not let politicians abuse the platform, spread election lies, engage in voter suppression. I let myself get hopeful for a sec when I read the piece. This🧵still stands, as what I hope FB will do.👇🏼 …
@shiraovide Shira Ovide on x
👏👏👏👏 With the usual caveats that Facebook's written policies matter far less than how or whether it effectively applies them. https://twitter.com/...
@gerritd Gerrit De Vynck on x
fwiw YouTube hasn't ever had a newsworthiness exception, has a relatively transparent strikes system, AND still manages to have its moderations rules constantly broken and critiqued from all corners https://twitter.com/...
@yaeleisenstat Yael Eisenstat on x
4/ I'm happy that Facebook took the “Oversight Board's” recommendations to heart, but I want people to remember that many employees, myself included, and activists + academics + journalists made this case years ago. They could have done the right thing long ago. It was a choice.
@karenkornbluh Karen Kornbluh on x
A welcome step away from treating disinfo as info ops - where you have to hide the rulebook from malign actors who will exploit loopholes - to a media framework - where you have editorial standards and practices and transparency about corrections. https://twitter.com/...
@kreissdaniel Daniel Kreiss on x
This is a great, pro-democratic change and one that we @unc_citap have long called for. https://twitter.com/...
@alexeheath Alex Heath on x
Facebook is making these changes after the widely-panned Oversight Board it set up recommended it do so. Highly recommend reading this and then what FB is doing to address: https://oversightboard.com/...

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