Facebook confirms its “standards” don’t apply to politicians

Enlarge / President Donald Trump discusses Twitter, Facebook, and Google during a Social Media Summit at the White House in July 2019. (credit: Jabin Botsford | The Washington Post | Getty Images)

Facebook this week finally put into writing what users-especially politically powerful users-have known for years: its community "standards" do not, in fact, apply across the whole community. Speech from politicians is officially exempt from the platform's fact checking and decency standards, the company has clarified, with a few exceptions.

Facebook communications VP Nick Clegg, himself a former member of the UK Parliament, outlined the policy in a speech and company blog post Tuesday.

Facebook has had a "newsworthiness exemption" to its content guidelines since 2016. That policy was formalized in late October of that year amid a contentious and chaotic US political season and three weeks before the presidential election that would land Donald Trump the White House.

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