London Daily

Focus on the big picture.
Wednesday, Oct 01, 2025

Facebook's refusal to fact-check Trump could be its defining 2020 decision

Facebook's refusal to fact-check Trump could be its defining 2020 decision

The debate over Facebook's decision to allow President Trump's reelection campaign to pay to run false ads on its platform encapsulates the awkward moral, social and civil questions that have dogged the company since 2016.

Facebook's argument is this: As a private company, it shouldn't have the power to censor the leader of the free world, even if he lies. Those lies, Facebook says, will be tested and exposed by the media and through political discourse.

But not so, says former vice president Joe Biden's campaign. They complained to Facebook last week after the Trump campaign began running false ads about the Bidens and Ukraine -- an issue which is now central to the impeachment inquiry.

Facebook, the Biden team says, should shut down the ads.

"Our approach is grounded in Facebook's fundamental belief in free expression," Katie Harbath, Facebook's public policy director, responded to the Biden campaign. "Political speech is already arguably the most scrutinized speech there is. Thus, when a politician speaks or makes an ad, we do not send it to third party fact checkers."

Facebook's argument might be more convincing in a world without the platform. The company has helped create and enhance ideological echo chambers. Some Facebook users only follow and engage with content with which they agree.

Hundreds of Facebook groups exist with thousands of members devoted to various presidential candidates. There, campaign talking points are repeated ad-nauseum.

Given how the Facebook News Feed is determined by an algorithm and the highly-targeted nature of Facebook ads, it's entirely possible that a Facebook user could see a false ad from a campaign and not encounter a post that challenges or corrects it. On the other hand, the company perhaps has a point. Although a for-profit corporation, Facebook is an important part of America's public square, allowing users from all sides of the political spectrum to converse and providing a platform for politicians to reach voters directly.

Democrats, many of whom lament the concentration of power in Silicon Valley, are calling on Facebook to exercise even more control by making decisions about political speech.

"Lawmakers often tell me we have too much power over speech, and frankly I agree," Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg wrote earlier this year in a Washington Post op-ed. He called on Congress to write laws that would help companies like Facebook better police speech.

Zuckerberg is right. The law has not kept up with the digital revolution and these businesses are left to make up their own rules.

YouTube and Twitter let the Trump campaign run the false anti-Biden ad, too. But the fact they are only mentioned one time and halfway into this article - along with the Biden campaign's decision to single out Facebook in their first letter - might reflect the media's and Washington's obsession with Facebook. The company - perhaps due to its perceived ubiquity - is often used as a conduit to scrutinize issues that in fact go far beyond Facebook, whether that be online political discourse or corporate social responsibility.

Nick Clegg, the former deputy prime minister of the United Kingdom and now a Facebook employee, recently waxed poetic about the company's policy of not fact-checking politicians. Although Facebook said the policy has been in place for a year, Clegg made it part of a speech he delivered in Washington DC last month.

But there are some factors at play. What makes Facebook so profitable is its ability to build scalable products and services. Technologies such as automation and artificial intelligence help facilitate Facebook's hands-off approach. The efforts neatly fit with Zuckerberg's original vision for the company: a platform where people can connect openly in a way that involves relatively little oversight.

But since 2016, the company has been forced to be more proactive and responsive, reluctantly making overt editorial decisions. Facebook has cracked down on anti-vaccination misinformation, banned white nationalism and hired fact-checkers that de-prioritize posts containing misinformation. But politicians' posts, for the most part, are exempt.

All these new rules require more people, despite the great promises of moderation by artificial intelligence extolled by Zuckerberg and others. In moments that matter, such as during the live streaming of the massacre in Christchurch, New Zealand, earlier this year, we have seen that dependence on AI backfire spectacularly.

Since May 2018, the Trump campaign has spent more than $20 million on Facebook ads. Fact-checking those ads would slow down Facebook's approval process, potentially resulting in a lower ad-spend.

Facebook posted profits just shy of $7 billion last year. Fact-checking Trump and other 2020 candidates' ads would not significantly impact the company's bottom line. But it would represent another chisel cutting into the automated utopia that has made Facebook rich. Then, once fact checks happen on US politicians' posts, other countries might call for the same.

Then there's the political calculation. Under intense scrutiny since 2016 in Washington, Facebook has hired a mostly deft team to help it navigate the nation's capital.

Facebook may be happier to take a letter of complaint or two from the Biden campaign about a Trump ad rather than fact check and possibly refuse ads from Trump. This would further embolden Republicans who claim Silicon Valley has an anti-conservative bias.

For now, Facebook is remaining steadfast in its position to allow politicians to post and pay to target lies at Americans. But the company has been known to change its policies around politics and speech before, no matter how much it once defended them.

While in the UK government, Clegg was slammed for not honoring a pledge not to raise the cost of college tuition. Now as Facebook's front man on the fact-checking debate, he could again one day find himself walking back another argument made in good faith.

Newsletter

Related Articles

0:00
0:00
Close
Trump Administration Launches “TrumpRx” Plan to Enable Direct Drug Sales at Deep Discounts
Trump Announces Intention to Impose 100 Percent Tariff on Foreign-Made Films
Altman Says GPT-5 Already Outpaces Him, Warns AI Could Automate 40% of Work
Singapore and Hong Kong Vie to Dominate Asia’s Rising Gold Trade
Trump Organization Teams with Saudi Developer on $1 Billion Trump Plaza in Jeddah
Manhattan Sees Surge in Office-to-Housing Conversions, Highest Since 2008
Switzerland and U.S. Issue Joint Assurance Against Currency Manipulation
Electronic Arts to Be Taken Private in Historic $55 Billion Buyout
Thomas Jacob Sanford Named as Suspect in Deadly Michigan Church Shooting and Arson
Russian Research Vessel 'Yantar' Tracked Mapping Europe’s Subsea Cables, Raising Security Alarms
New York Man Arrested After On-Air Confession to 2017 Parents’ Murders
U.S. Defense Chief Orders Sudden Summit of Hundreds of Generals and Admirals
Global Cruise Industry Posts Dramatic Comeback with 34.6 Million Passengers in 2024
Trump Claims FBI Planted 274 Agents at Capitol Riot, Citing Unverified Reports
India: Internet Suspended in Bareilly Amid Communal Clashes Between Muslims and Hindus
Supreme Court Extends Freeze on Nearly $5 Billion in U.S. Foreign Aid at Trump’s Request
Archaeologists Recover Statues and Temples from 2,000-Year-Old Sunken City off Alexandria
China Deploys 2,000 Workers to Spain to Build Major EV Battery Factory, Raising European Dependence
Speed Takes Over: How Drive-Through Coffee Chains Are Rewriting U.S. Coffee Culture
U.S. Demands Brussels Scrutinize Digital Rules to Prevent Bias Against American Tech
Ringo Starr Champions Enduring Beatles Legacy While Debuting Las Vegas Art Show
Private Equity’s Fundraising Surge Triggers Concern of European Market Shake-Out
Colombian President Petro Vows to Mobilize Volunteers for Gaza and Joins List of Fighters
FBI Removes Agents Who Kneeled at 2020 Protest, Citing Breach of Professional Conduct
Trump Alleges ‘Triple Sabotage’ at United Nations After Escalator and Teleprompter Failures
Shock in France: 5 Years in Prison for Former President Nicolas Sarkozy
Tokyo’s Jimbōchō Named World’s Coolest Neighbourhood for 2025
European Officials Fear Trump May Shift Blame for Ukraine War onto EU
BNP Paribas Abandons Ban on 'Controversial Weapons' Financing Amid Europe’s Defence Push
Typhoon Ragasa Leaves Trail of Destruction Across East Asia Before Making Landfall in China
The Personality Rights Challenge in India’s AI Era
Big Banks Rebuild in Hong Kong as Deal Volume Surges
Italy Considers Freezing Retirement Age at 67 to Avert Scheduled Hike
Italian City to Impose Tax on Visiting Dogs Starting in 2026
Arnault Denounces Proposed Wealth Tax as Threat to French Economy
Study Finds No Safe Level of Alcohol for Dementia Risk
Denmark Investigates Drone Incursion, Does Not Rule Out Russian Involvement
Lilly CEO Warns UK Is ‘Worst Country in Europe’ for Drug Prices, Pulls Back Investment
Nigel Farage Emerges as Central Force in British Politics with Reform UK Surge
Disney Reinstates ‘Jimmy Kimmel Live!’ after Six-Day Suspension over Charlie Kirk Comments
U.S. Prosecutors Move to Break Up Google’s Advertising Monopoly
Nvidia Pledges Up to $100 Billion Investment in OpenAI to Power Massive AI Data Center Build-Out
U.S. Signals ‘Large and Forceful’ Support for Argentina Amid Market Turmoil
Nvidia and Abu Dhabi’s TII Launch First AI-&-Robotics Lab in the Middle East
Vietnam Faces Up to $25 Billion Export Loss as U.S. Tariffs Bite
Europe Signals Stronger Support for Taiwan at Major Taipei Defence Show
Indonesia Court Upholds Military Law Amid Concerns Over Expanded Civilian Role
Larry Ellison, Michael Dell and Rupert Murdoch Join Trump-Backed Bid to Take Over TikTok
Trump and Musk Reunite Publicly for First Time Since Fallout at Kirk Memorial
Vietnam Closes 86 Million Untouched Bank Accounts Over Biometric ID Rules
×