Why Facebook Won't Be Fact-Checking Trump Now That He's Announced Candidacy

Ahead of former U.S. President Donald Trump’s Nov. 15, 2022, announcement that he would run for reelection in 2024, a Meta memo reiterated that his speeches would be exempt from third-party fact-checking efforts on Facebook. The memo, which was obtained and reported on by CNN, stated that if Trump were to announce a reelection bid, he would no longer be fact-checked on Facebook’s platform by its third-party fact-checkers (Meta is Facebook’s parent company). The memo stated that “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.”  The memo explained: “If former president Trump makes a clear, public announcement that he is running for office, he would be considered a politician under our program policies.” This rule applies to all politicians. According to Facebook’s official policy, partners in the company’s fact-checker program should not rate the following types of content: Posts and ads from politicians: 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. In evaluating when this applies, we ask
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