{"id":80458,"date":"2020-11-26T12:32:54","date_gmt":"2020-11-26T07:02:54","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.altnews.in\/english-clone-2026\/?p=80458"},"modified":"2020-11-26T15:24:40","modified_gmt":"2020-11-26T09:54:40","slug":"fact-checking-political-speech-facebooks-myopic-policy-and-inconsistent-standard","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.altnews.in\/english-clone-2026\/fact-checking-political-speech-facebooks-myopic-policy-and-inconsistent-standard\/","title":{"rendered":"Fact-checking political speech: Facebook’s myopic policy and inconsistent standard"},"content":{"rendered":"

American actor-writer Sacha Baron Cohen had said in a scathing speech that had Facebook existed in the 1930s, the company would have permitted Hiter to run political ads on the “Jewish problem”. Cohen’s analogy isn’t implausible \u2014 authoritarian governments across the world are harnessing the power of Facebook (and its subsidiaries such as Instagram and WhatsApp) akin to the Nazi’s use of radio for propaganda.<\/p>\n

Facebook’s reluctance to include politicians in its third-party fact-checking program allows disinformation to thrive.<\/p>\n

Recently, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MLA Himanta Biswa Sarma shared a video of All India United Democratic Front (AIUDF) supporters sloganeering in support of party leader Maulana Badruddin Ajmal at Silchar airport. Sarma falsely claimed that chants of ‘Pakistan zindabad’ were raised. The misinformation was debunked by Alt News<\/a> and Facebook fact-checking partners Boomlive<\/a> and The Quint<\/a>. After Boomlive’s story, Facebook added a ‘false information’ label on Sarma’s post which was later removed.<\/p>\n

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A Facebook spokesperson told The Indian Express<\/a> that the tag was erroneously put on Sarma\u2019s post. Queries sent by Alt News to the social networking site drew a similar response that content shared by politicians is not eligible for fact-checking.<\/p>\n

But we noticed a discrepancy in Facebook’s policies.<\/p>\n

Differential treatment of political leaders<\/h4>\n

During farmer protests in September this year, a video of Prime Minister Modi’s mock funeral which was taken out in Tamil Nadu in 2017 was misidentified as farmers carrying out the procession. In 2018, the same clip was also shared as a procession held in Pakistan. This was debunked by Boomlive<\/a>, The Quint<\/a> and India Today<\/a> (also a third-party fact-checker with Facebook). Many of the links from two years ago (1<\/a>, 2<\/a>, 3<\/a>) do not carry the ‘false information’ warning but quite a few posts from this year<\/a> carry an ‘altered video’ label including one by Congress leader Udit Raj.<\/p>\n

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Recently, a ‘partly false information’ warning was also added to a video<\/a> shared by BJP Delhi leader Tajinder Pal Singh Bagga after a report<\/a> by Facebook fact-checking partner Fact Crescendo.<\/p>\n

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Facebook defines politicians<\/a> as “candidates running for office, current officeholders \u2013 and, by extension, many of their cabinet appointees \u2013 along with political parties and their leaders<\/strong>.” Both Raj and Bagga should be identified as politicians per this definition yet their posts contain warnings. Facebook had removed the red flag from Himata Biswa Sarma’s post citing the very same reason.<\/p>\n

In fact, Facebook recently added a ‘false information’ label to a YouTube video shared by Donald Trump who still holds the office of the President of the United States.<\/p>\n

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So @Facebook<\/a> fact checks kick in only AFTER you pressure Facebook comms people on Twitter.<\/p>\n

cc: @slpng_giants<\/a> https:\/\/t.co\/hGmeXgnM47<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 The Real Facebook Oversight Board (@FBoversight) November 19, 2020<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Inconsistent standards of Facebook fact-checking<\/h4>\n

In the recent US presidential elections, warning labels<\/a> were also applied to Trump’s premature claims of victory, though a Buzzfeed analysis<\/a> revealed that they had no real impact. But would Facebook mirror similar steps during elections in other parts of the world? Unlikely.<\/p>\n

Both Facebook and Twitter assured during a recent Senate Judiciary Committee hearing<\/a> that the platforms have programs in place to “prevent misinformation aimed at discouraging people from voting” in the upcoming Georgia Senate seat races. While Twitter has globally banned political ads<\/a>, Facebook placed a temporary ban on political advertising in the US. The ad ban started a week before the Presidential race and has now been extended<\/a> for at least another month.<\/p>\n

But Facebook’s policy is limited to the US. India too has elections lined up including polls in West Bengal, a state nearly nine times more populated than Georgia. But Facebook has not announced any policies to combat the dissemination of false news in India.<\/p>\n

The tech giant’s global policy is vastly based on western politics, especially the US. The company has failed to control the spread of politically-motivated disinformation campaigns in parts of the developing world \u2014 whether it was hate speech pushing Ethiopia<\/a> to the brink of genocide or posts inciting ethnic violence in Myanmar<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Facebook relies on third-party fact-checkers to tackle the proliferation of misinformation. But fact-checkers are barred from reviewing political speech<\/a>. “I don’t think Facebook or internet platforms should be arbitrators of truth. That is a dangerous line to get down to in terms of what is true and what isn’t. And I think political speech is one of the most sensitive parts in a democracy. People should be able to see what politicians say and there is a ton of scrutiny already. Political speech is the most scrutinised speech by the media and I think that will continue,” said Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg in an interview with CNBC.<\/p>\n