UltraViolet Slams Facebook for Forcing Fact-Checkers Not to Fact-Check Donald Trump, Allowing Users to Post Related Posts
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Wednesday, November 16, 2022
CONTACT: Anna Zuccaro | anna@unbendablemedia.com
UltraViolet Slams Facebook for Forcing Fact-Checkers Not to Fact-Check Donald Trump, Allowing Users to Post Related Posts
WASHINGTON, DC — According to reports of an internal memo leak yesterday from Meta, fact-checkers may not fact-check Donald Trump. While Trump is currently banned from Facebook, the fact-check ban will apply to anything Trump says, including false statements, which can be posted to the platform by other users.
The memo established that if Trump did announce a 2024 presidential bid yesterday night, he could no longer be fact-checked on the platform.
Trump has not been allowed to post on his Facebook and Instagram accounts since the days following the January 6, 2021, attack on the US Capitol. Meta is considering allowing Trump back on the platform as soon as January 2023.
In response, Bridget Todd, communications director from UltraViolet, a national gender equity group and leading anti-disinformation advocate, issued the following statement:
“Meta forcing fact-checkers to ignore Donald Trump, Marjorie Taylor Greene, and other right-wing extremists’ lies is nothing new. Considering Facebook’s sketchy history of fact checking Donald Trump and other right-wing politicians, or lack thereof, the contents of this memo are hardly a surprise.
“Facebook didn’t deplatform Donald Trump until after he incited a violent and deadly insurrection in 2021. When Trump was on Facebook, he consistently posted lies, many rooted in racist, sexist disinformation, without incident.
“Let’s be clear, Meta is not bending its rules for Trump or right-wing radicals on Facebook — this is business as usual. Facebook generates profits from reposts and clicks, regardless of whether they contain valid facts or not.
“Meta needs to hold all politicians to the same fact-checking standards as regular users. “
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