Facebook rarely hands out punishments for spreading fake news in US elections

According to research by the US newspaper The Washington Post, Facebook rarely punishes for breaking the rules surrounding the spread of fake news and misinformation surrounding the US presidential election. That should happen.

People around incumbent President Donald Trump, in particular, often get away with repeatedly posting fake news and misinformation, claims The Washington Post. Facebook has a policy to limit the distribution of pages and those by users when repeatedly posting misinformation.

Facebook is not denying the allegations. On the case of President Trump’s son, the company says it has made an exception. “We will in rare cases not impose a penalty if the assessment was not appropriate or justified within the guidelines of the program.”

The Washington Post relies on its own research and documents from within the company, which show that Facebook often does not attach consequences to violations, especially with regard to pages and users affiliated with the Republican party, where it should. The reason would be to not appear biased in the election, which will take place on Tuesday. Facebook has been using that argument for years.

It is not the first time that Facebook has been discredited for protecting conservatives in the US. For example, a top executive would have stopped a punishment for the right-wing site Breitbart, NBC reported earlier this year. In the meantime, Facebook incorrectly removed advertisements from Trump’s opponent Joe Biden, as it turned out last week.