Should Politicians be Exempt from Fact-Checks on Facebook?

After the 2016 Presidential election, Facebook was widely criticized for the spike of misinformation and disinformation that spread on its platform. The most popular fake news stories on Facebook were shared more widely than the most popular mainstream news stories. While Facebook has since taken steps to update its fact checking and speech policies, they clarified that politicians would be exempt from fact-checking rules.

Conversely, Twitter has taken a different stance and made headlines last week for flagging a tweet from the president with a fact-check warning.

Today, we're diving into the debate of fact-checking politicians on social media - focusing specifically on Facebook. Supporters of the fact check exemption say that it is not Facebook’s role to meddle in free speech while opponents say Facebook is giving politicians a free pass to spread misinformation.