Facebook has announced that it would soon terminate its “Special Treatment” for politicians which have the platform, primarily because the company admits to having lax content moderation for their posts. Being a public official has its perks, including that of the social media platform where their posts were not monitored by its Oversight Board, but not anymore.
Facebook to Terminate ‘Special Treatment’ for Politicians
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ILLUSTRATION – 13 May 2021, Berlin: The apps of the Internet group Facebook on an iPhone 12: Facebook, WhatsApp, WhatsApp Business, Facebook Messenger, Instagram, Instagram Layout, Facebook Business Suite, Facebook Analytics, Facebook Ads Manager. On the occasion of WhatsApp’s integration into Facebook’s infrastructure, the group’s various apps are coming under the scrutiny of data protectionists and regulators.
Abuse of platform and sharing misinformation is not limited to regular users only, but even more so for influencers, streamers, personalities, and even politicians. They are, in fact, people as well, and may use their public accounts in the wrong way which Facebook will not notice due to its initial special treatment for them.
However, all that will change in the coming weeks, especially as the social media company has announced, according to The Verge, that it would soon terminate its “special treatment” for politicians by Friday, June 4.
This announcement means that Facebook has allowed politicians to stay unchecked with their social media accounts, despite the severity of their posts to affect public opinion. This follows a massive campaign of Facebook to remove misinformation, fake news, and misleading posts that lead people to believe something else, apart from the original or factual content.
(Photo : Facebook)
During the pandemic, there have been a lot of posts made against COVID-19, particularly its legitimacy, concerns, conspiracy theories, and vaccine hesitancy which led to mass hysteria. Moreover, this resulted in people opting not to use face masks, thus contributing to the spike in cases last year during the peak of the pandemic.
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Trump’s Ban Started This Facebook Campaign for Termination
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Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump delivers a speech during the evening session on the fourth day of the Republican National Convention on July 21, 2016 at the Quicken Loans Arena in Cleveland, Ohio. Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump received the number of votes needed to secure the party’s nomination. An estimated 50,000 people are expected in Cleveland, including hundreds of protesters and members of the media. The four-day Republican National Convention kicked off on July 18.
Initially, Twitter has affirmed its decision for a permanent ban in January against former President Donald J. Trump on the platform, whereas Facebook deliberated the issue.
Fast forward to the last weeks of May, the Oversight Board also stuck with their decision of a suspension on Trump’s account, particularly because Facebook could not find the rightful penalty or punishment against him. Trump was regarded by Twitter to have abused his platform, particularly by inciting violence and have spread misinformation that was perceived by the public as something real.
The power of social media is massive, and even the slightest of words could have a different meaning to other people, despite it is not what the author meant during publishing. This is in particular with those who owns massive public accounts, which have a huge following and appears often on people’s timeline or News Feeds.
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Written by Isaiah Richard
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