Facebook will label posts that come from politicians that break its rules. CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced the change after its advertisers pulled back from the platform. Although the posts will not be removed, it will, however, notify users that its policies have been violated.
Twitter has already labeled some posts made by politicians, most especially those made by U.S. President Donald Trump. Previously, Zuckerberg had criticized Twitter's move, only to make a similar decision a week later.
Facebook has not revealed what the labels would look like or when it will begin adding them to posts. It's not clear how strict the new rule will be as well. Zuckerberg has not mentioned Trump and his social media posts despite being criticized for the way it has handled the U.S. president's controversial content.
Facebook's new policy is its answer to the boycott that high-profile advertisers have arranged along with civil rights groups. The social media network's advertisers have withdrawn from placing ads on the platform, having urged by several groups such as Color of Change, NAACP, the Anti-Defamation League, and others.
One of the high-profile advertisers that joined the Boycott was Unilever, the company behind brands like Lipton and Dove, which according to CNN spent $42 million in ads on Facebook in 2019. Verizon, one of the major telecom companies in the U.S., also announced its withdrawal on Facebook ads after the ADL posted a letter indicating a Verizon ad had appeared next to QAnon content. Eddie Bauer, Patagonia, REI, and Ben and Jerrys have announced they would join the boycott as well.
Although aware, Zuckerberg did not address the advertiser boycott directly. However, The Wall Street Journal reported that a Facebook exec told advertisers "we do not make policy changes tied to revenue pressure."
It should be noted that this policy does not refer to the fact-checking issue on politicians's post. Facebook is still exempting politicians from that, though it said it would impose more stringent rules regarding hate speech in paid ads.
As of this writing, it is not known what the impact the policy change will have on the advertiser boycott. The organizers of the boycott, however, think that policy change is not the answer to the issue they are raising.
The ADL on Twitter said that Zuckerberg's response was not enough. Rashad Robinson, Color of Change President, called Zuckerberg's livestream (where he announced the new policy) "11 minutes of wasted opportunity to commit to change."
