{"id":552134,"date":"2021-06-04T08:21:20","date_gmt":"2021-06-04T12:21:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=552134"},"modified":"2021-06-04T08:21:22","modified_gmt":"2021-06-04T12:21:22","slug":"facebook-to-reverse-political-protections-opening-door-to-censorship","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/facebook-to-reverse-political-protections-opening-door-to-censorship\/","title":{"rendered":"Facebook To Reverse Political Protections, Opening Door To Censorship"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">18<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Ffacebook-to-reverse-political-protections-opening-door-to-censorship%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=552134&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><div><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/GettyImages-944480672-1-1200x800-1.jpg\" class=\"ff-og-image-inserted\"  style=\"display:none\"><\/div>\n<p><span>In recent years, Facebook has applied a \u201cnewsworthy\u201d status to some political accounts, which are not subject to the same fact-checking requirements or content moderation rules as other users on its platform.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Facebook plans to end this policy, however, in a shocking reversal that could have drastic ramifications when it comes to free speech online, according to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theverge.com\/2021\/6\/3\/22474738\/facebook-ending-political-figure-exemption-moderation-policy\">The Verge<\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>\u201cWe don\u2019t believe \u2026 that it\u2019s an appropriate role for us to referee political debates and prevent a politician\u2019s speech from reaching its audience and being subject to public debate and scrutiny,\u201d said Facebook vice president of global affairs, <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/about.fb.com\/news\/2019\/09\/elections-and-political-speech\/\"><span>Nick Clegg<\/span><\/a><span>, in 2019. \u201cThat\u2019s why Facebook exempts politicians from our third-party fact-checking program.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>After noting that politicians are eligible for fact-checking if they share \u201cpreviously debunked content,\u201d Clegg continued to explain Facebook\u2019s \u201cnewsworthiness exemption.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>\u201cToday, I announced that from now on we will treat speech from politicians as newsworthy content that should, as a general rule, be seen and heard. However, in keeping with the principle that we apply different standards to content for which we receive payment, this will not apply to ads \u2013 if someone chooses to post an ad on Facebook, they must still fall within our Community Standards and our advertising policies,\u201d Clegg explained.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>However, as\u00a0<\/span><span>The Verge<\/span><span> reported, \u201cFacebook plans to end its controversial policy that mostly shields politicians from the content moderation rules that apply to other users, a sharp reversal that could have global ramifications for how elected officials use the social network.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>The Verge then explained that this change followed Facebook\u2019s controversial Oversight Board\u2019s move to <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailywire.com\/news\/facebooks-oversight-board-slams-big-tech-giant-for-avoiding-its-responsibilities-despite-refusing-to-overturn-trump-ban\"><span>uphold its decision<\/span><\/a><span> to suspend former President Donald Trump from the platform while also criticizing the Big Tech giant for avoiding \u201cits responsibilities.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>\u201cFacebook also plans to shed light on the secretive system of strikes it gives accounts for breaking its content rules, according to two people familiar with the changes,\u201d The Verge added, and that \u201cFacebook is also set to begin disclosing when it uses a special newsworthiness exemption to keep up content from politicians and others that would otherwise violate its rules.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>This reported change in policy is a drastic shift from the \u201chands-off approach\u201d which has been applied by Facebook in recent years regarding the subject of political speech. Speaking at Georgetown University in October 2019, for example, <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2019\/10\/17\/business\/zuckerberg-facebook-free-speech.html\"><span>Mark Zuckerberg<\/span><\/a><span> sparked a furious backlash among Democrats after he argued in favor of \u201cfree expression,\u201d and spoke out against the notion of policing political speech.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Zuckerberg\u2019s comments, which were openly in favor of online free speech, were a response to widespread criticism, with Senator Elizabeth Warren having accused Facebook of being a \u201cdisinformation-for-profit machine.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"500\" data-dnt=\"true\" readability=\"10.3125\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Facebook changed their ads policy to allow politicians to run ads with known lies\u2014explicitly turning the platform into a disinformation-for-profit machine. This week, we decided to see just how far it goes.<\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Elizabeth Warren (@ewarren) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/ewarren\/status\/1183019880867680256?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">October 12, 2019<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><span>According to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/technology\/2021\/06\/03\/trump-facebook-oversight-board\/?wpmk=1&#038;wpisrc=al_news__alert-economy--alert-politics--alert-national&#038;utm_source=alert&#038;utm_medium=email&#038;utm_campaign=wp_news_alert_revere&#038;location=alert&#038;pwapi_token=eyJ0eXAiOiJKV1QiLCJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiJ9.eyJjb29raWVuYW1lIjoid3BfY3J0aWQiLCJpc3MiOiJDYXJ0YSIsImNvb2tpZXZhbHVlIjoiNjA3NjAyZGRhZGU0ZTI2NmJkOWUwMmRjIiwidGFnIjoid3BfbmV3c19hbGVydF9yZXZlcmUiLCJ1cmwiOiJodHRwczovL3d3dy53YXNoaW5ndG9ucG9zdC5jb20vdGVjaG5vbG9neS8yMDIxLzA2LzAzL3RydW1wLWZhY2Vib29rLW92ZXJzaWdodC1ib2FyZC8_d3Btaz0xJndwaXNyYz1hbF9uZXdzX19hbGVydC1lY29ub215LS1hbGVydC1wb2xpdGljcy0tYWxlcnQtbmF0aW9uYWwmdXRtX3NvdXJjZT1hbGVydCZ1dG1fbWVkaXVtPWVtYWlsJnV0bV9jYW1wYWlnbj13cF9uZXdzX2FsZXJ0X3JldmVyZSZsb2NhdGlvbj1hbGVydCJ9.FuOaPgI9TkL1WwAURG3XwtrjNS5JZye7odhA0kiydAU\">The Washington Post<\/a>, \u201c<\/span><span>Facebook doesn\u2019t plan to end the newsworthiness exception entirely.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>\u201cIn the cases where an exception is made, the company will now disclose it publicly, the person said \u2014 after years of such decisions being closely held,\u201d The Washington Post reported.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>However, this reversal will raise red flags for advocates of free speech online, as the door of political censorship on Facebook and Instagram is slowly opened even further.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><i><span>The Daily Wire is one of America\u2019s fastest-growing conservative media companies and counter-cultural outlets for news, opinion, and entertainment. Get inside access to The Daily Wire by becoming a<\/span><\/i><a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailywire.com\/subscribe\"><i><span> member<\/span><\/i><\/a><i><span>.<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>In recent years, Facebook has applied a \u201cnewsworthy\u201d status to some political accounts, which are not subject to the same fact-checking requirements or content moderation rules as other users on &#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2279186,"comment_status":"close","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/GettyImages-944480672-1-1200x800-1.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"Facebook To Reverse Political Protections, Opening Door To Censorship","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-552134","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/GettyImages-944480672-1-1200x800-1.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"Facebook To Reverse Political Protections, Opening Door To Censorship","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/552134","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=552134"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/552134\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2279186"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=552134"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=552134"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=552134"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}