Although former President Donald Trump will remain banned from posting on Facebook, the platform will no longer fact-check any of his public statements if they are shared to the site by other users, according to an internal Facebook memo obtained by CNN.
The decision to stop fact-checking Trump’s commentaries — including those that are blatantly false, such as his continued insistence that widespread election fraud affected the outcome of the 2020 presidential race — comes in light of Trump’s announcement that he will be running for president in 2024. Facebook’s policies state that politicians (defined as current officeholders or candidates for political office) are exempt from the site’s fact-checking policy.
Facebook has not yet lifted its indefinite suspension of Trump, which was implemented almost two years ago after the former president’s lies and incendiary rhetoric resulted in the attack on the U.S. Capitol building on January 6, 2021.
“The shocking events of the last 24 hours clearly demonstrate that President Donald Trump intends to use his remaining time in office to undermine the peaceful and lawful transition of power to his elected successor, Joe Biden,” Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg said in a post the day after the attack.
Facebook kept the ban in place after its Oversight Board conducted a review of the action in May 2021. One month after the review, polling showed that 51 percent of Americans agreed with the decision.
But Facebook may lift Trump’s indefinite ban as soon as this coming January, a company executive said earlier this year.
Trump may soon return to other social media sites as well. Elon Musk, who recently completed his purchase of Twitter, hinted that Trump’s account may be reinstated in a post earlier this month, saying that it could happen within “a few more weeks.”
Musk also said in March that Trump should be allowed back on the site, claiming “it was not correct to ban Donald Trump.” But polling has shown that most Americans approve of the social media bans imposed on the former president.
Two months after Musk’s comments in March, a Politico/Morning Consult poll found that 53 percent of Americans agreed with Twitter’s decision to ban Trump after the Capitol attack, while only 37 percent said they disagreed with the move.
Help us Prepare for Trump’s Day One
Trump is busy getting ready for Day One of his presidency – but so is Truthout.
Trump has made it no secret that he is planning a demolition-style attack on both specific communities and democracy as a whole, beginning on his first day in office. With over 25 executive orders and directives queued up for January 20, he’s promised to “launch the largest deportation program in American history,” roll back anti-discrimination protections for transgender students, and implement a “drill, drill, drill” approach to ramp up oil and gas extraction.
Organizations like Truthout are also being threatened by legislation like HR 9495, the “nonprofit killer bill” that would allow the Treasury Secretary to declare any nonprofit a “terrorist-supporting organization” and strip its tax-exempt status without due process. Progressive media like Truthout that has courageously focused on reporting on Israel’s genocide in Gaza are in the bill’s crosshairs.
As journalists, we have a responsibility to look at hard realities and communicate them to you. We hope that you, like us, can use this information to prepare for what’s to come.
And if you feel uncertain about what to do in the face of a second Trump administration, we invite you to be an indispensable part of Truthout’s preparations.
In addition to covering the widespread onslaught of draconian policy, we’re shoring up our resources for what might come next for progressive media: bad-faith lawsuits from far-right ghouls, legislation that seeks to strip us of our ability to receive tax-deductible donations, and further throttling of our reach on social media platforms owned by Trump’s sycophants.
We’re preparing right now for Trump’s Day One: building a brave coalition of movement media; reaching out to the activists, academics, and thinkers we trust to shine a light on the inner workings of authoritarianism; and planning to use journalism as a tool to equip movements to protect the people, lands, and principles most vulnerable to Trump’s destruction.
We urgently need your help to prepare. As you know, our December fundraiser is our most important of the year and will determine the scale of work we’ll be able to do in 2025. We’ve set two goals: to raise $115,000 in one-time donations and to add 1365 new monthly donors by midnight on December 31.
Today, we’re asking all of our readers to start a monthly donation or make a one-time donation – as a commitment to stand with us on day one of Trump’s presidency, and every day after that, as we produce journalism that combats authoritarianism, censorship, injustice, and misinformation. You’re an essential part of our future – please join the movement by making a tax-deductible donation today.
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