(Headline USA) Facebook’s parent company Meta announced this week that it will no longer fact-check former President Donald Trump in light of his 2024 bid for the White House.
Trump is still banned from Facebook, but because he is now a political candidate his statements will not be subjected to the platform’s third-party fact checks, Meta officials said in a memo obtained by CNN.
“Some of you have reached out seeking guidance regarding fact-checking political speech in anticipation of a potential candidacy announcement from former President Trump,” the memo read. “Political speech is ineligible for fact-checking. This includes the words a politician says as well as photo, video, or other content that is clearly labeled as created by the politician or their campaign.”
A candidate need not formally file with the Federal Election Commission to be considered a “politician,” the memo added.
“We define a ‘politician’ as candidates running for office, current office holders – and, by extension, many of their cabinet appointees – along with political parties and their leaders,” the memo states, noting that “if former President Trump makes a clear, public announcement that he is running for office, he would considered a politician under our program policies.”
Andy Stone, a Meta spokesperson, said the decision shouldn’t come as a shock.
“A reiteration of our long-standing policy should not be news to anyone,” he said in a statement.
Trump announced on Tuesday night that he intends to run for the White House in 2024, and officially filed paperwork with the FEC to that extent. He touted many of the issues that he first ran on in 2016, including immigration, the economy and an America First foreign policy approach. He also blasted President Joe Biden for erasing the progress the country made under Trump’s administration.
“I will ensure that Joe Biden does not receive four more years,” he said. “Our country could not take that. And I say that not in laughter, I say that in tears. Our country could not take four more years. They can only take so much.”
